Jealousy is a hazel eyed monster
by ale-cat23
Summary: Pepper can't say she's jealous of Tony and Whitney. No, really. She can't. Of all the emotions she can vocalize, jealousy is the hardest. WARNING: Spoilers for Episode 7- Field Trip. rating is now T. Tony/Pepper, eventually.
1. At the beginning

**A/N: This show is officially my new obsession. I don't know why, never had a really strong interest in Iron Man, but this show is really good. So I had to write something for it.**

**The idea for this story occurred shortly after watching the episode Field Trip (Um…spoilers, by the way). I'm not incredibly with this first chapter, but I had to get this written before I lost interest. The opening just gave me a bunch of trouble, so I swore at it until something I liked developed. **

* * *

"Ok, students, get back to the bus."

The order came from Professor Kline, attempting to get back the attention of his students. All of them were stifling giggles as Mr. Obadiah Stane, feared and revered CEO of Stark International, marched past them, flanked by a platoon of bodyguards. Pepper, standing at the edge of the crowd, had to resist the urge to trip one of the grey-clad men. She settled for making faces as they passed, hoping the action wouldn't get her forcibly restrained…again.

"Get a move on, Ms. Potts." Professor Kline yelled, calling her attention back to him. He was motioning for her to follow the rest of the group back to the bus. Pepper complied and began to follow the group, but turned her head around to stick her tongue out at the bodyguards' retreating backs one last time. As she turned her head to face the forward direction, a movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Stane's daughter, the girl who had cut the power, was waving to someone on the bus, a flirty smile on her face. Pepper immediately knew who it had to be. After all, there was only one person on the bus the heiress had to know, and chances were astronomically good it wasn't Happy.

Hopping on one foot so she could tilt her body to see into the bus window, Pepper's guess proved to be, naturally, correct. Sure enough, Tony was waving back to the blonde, a small smile playing across his face.

Something, some emotion in Pepper burned and she let out a sound that was a strange cross between anger and sadness.

Rhodey, waiting in front of Pepper to get on the bus, heard it and turned around. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing." Pepper muttered, "Foam in my nose."

* * *

**A/N: Ok, there's the first chapter. It's a bit short, but I've got more planned. Also, does anyone know what color Pepper's eyes really are? I guessed, since in some scenes they were green, some brown, some gray. So I just settled for hazel. But if you could tell me, without any doubt, what color they are, I'll give you a cookie. **

**On, and there's a pretty green and gray button right below this. Please click on it and give a struggling author some love? I really want to hear what you guys think. (Constructive criticism definitely accepted. Flames, however, will be used to heat my room.)**


	2. I'm on a boat I mean, bus

**A/N: I got this chapter up so much faster than anticipated. I had planned for at least a 2 week stall. But if the creative energies are flowing, I gotta let 'em out. (That, and I haven't had too much homework)**

**YOU. GUYS. ROCK. Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts you guys gave this story. And the hits! (By the way, what's the difference between a hit and a visit?) It makes me feel loved! I hope I replied to everyone who gave a logged in reply…**

**On another note, this show is officially my new obsession. I even downloaded the full theme song so I could have it on my iPod (Thank you, Teletoon!) But that's all I'll say up here. There are more comments at the bottom, but you should read the chapter now.**

* * *

"Well, we pulled that plan off perfectly. Except for every single detail." Pepper said sadly, slumping down backwards into her bus seat, arms hung over the back of it. "It was a good plan, though."

Rhodey scoffed. "Sure, 'cause we really counted on getting help from Gene, Happy, and Stane's own daughter. Man, we're lucky we even got the suit back."

He stopped and turned around to look at Tony. "Tony…where is the suit?"

Tony shrugged nonchalantly and gave them a lopsided grin (which, Pepper noticed, was a nice grin that gave her a glimpse of very white, straight teeth. Very nice teeth…_No! Bad Pepper!_)

"Oh, that. Yeah, I might need some help getting that back." He gave a small wave in the direction of the roof. His eyes met with Pepper's, and for a second, that adorable grin was all hers. She could feel the blood rushing into her cheeks, and knew she must be getting as red as a tomato. She pulled her eyes away and turned around, letting out a small squeak as she did so.

Tony raised an eyebrow at her antics. "You ok?"

"Oh, yeah. Perfectly fine. Just warm in here. Body heat, you know?"

Tony turned his attention to Rhodey. "Hey, wait. You said Stane's daughter helped you?"

Pepper recovered enough of her sense to mutter "She pulled the light switch. It wasn't that impressive. I could've done it."

"It wasn't the lights switch she pulled. It was the main power line." Rhodey pointed out. "And no, you couldn't have. You were tied to a chair."

"Was she really?" Tony asked.

Pepper was very glad that she wasn't facing Tony, since she had gone red again. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she said, punching Rhodey each time she said it.

Rhodey scooted an inch away from her, turning around to talk to Tony again. "So, what's the deal with you and Stane's daughter? I saw her waving at you."

"Whitney? Yeah, she and I are old friends."

Pepper's second bout of embarrassment disappeared the second those words were uttered, just to be replaced by a strange feeling of sadness. She slumped down further in her seat, so Tony couldn't even see the back of her head. She didn't need to hear this, she really didn't. She didn't care, oh no she didn't.

"Just friends?"

Pepper could practically see the grin on Tony's face (her grin!) when he answered. "Well…I'm thinking that she might want to be something more. You know, I wouldn't be too against the idea myself."

Ok. That she cared about. Pepper decided it was time to give her opinion on the subject at hand. She jumped up in her seat and turned around. "Are you crazy?" she demanded in a harsh whisper. "You wouldn't have time for a girlfriend, what with school and being Iron Man and all. On that note, what do you suppose Whitney- that is her name, right? - would think if her boyfriend kept running off in the middle of dates? Would you tell her you were Iron Man? Oh, that would go over great. 'Hey, daddy. Guess what? I know who Iron Man is! Now you have to pay more attention to me!'"

The end of her rant was met with strange looks from both her male friends. "Um…Pepper?" Rhodey started. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Yes, I am fine!" she said angrily, trying to catch her breath. Her words were meant as a reassurance to both the boys and herself. She wasn't sure, though, that the words were doing their job.

"You're not…jealous of Whitney, are you?"

The sudden stop of the bus in front of the school saved her from having to answer. The second the doors squeaked open, she jumped off her seat and dashed out before everyone else. Her face was bright red again, the third time since they left Stark International.

Pepper could feel her cheeks burning as she ran down the hall to her locker. She remembered countless other times she had embarrassed herself before (for example, the chemical foam incident just this morning), but none had been as bad as this. She knew that there was no way she could face the guys after that, so her only option was to get out of the school before they came looking for her.

She quickly gathered up all her books and slammed her locker shut. The rest of the class was coming in, so it was time for her to make an exit. She crept into one of the empty classrooms and went right out the window.

* * *

"So…Pepper was a bit weird today." Tony commented as he and Rhodey walked home.

"Oh, just a bit more than usual." Rhodey responded sarcastically.

Tony ignored the sarcasm. "And I didn't see her after school."

"You saw how fast she left the bus. She probably left the school right away."

Silence passed between them for a second, before Tony asked "What do you think caused it?"

Rhodey shrugged. "Who knows? Girls are hard to understand. Pepper's no exception." He thought for a second. "I bet it had something to do with those remarks about Whitney you were making."

"Really? I doubt it. Why would she be jealous of Whitney?"

Rhodey rolled his eyes at his friend's obliviousness, but decided not to comment on it. "What were you thinking it was?"

"I dunno. PMS?"

**A/N: SO, there you are. Chapter 2. I pushed myself to make it longer, since most of the comments I got told me the last chapter was too short. I'm not sure if I can get all chapters to be this long, but I'll try. **

**I don't think I'm making Tony too OOC when I write that he doubts Pepper is jealous. It seems to me he'd be kinda oblivious to these things. And, in my experience, if a girl is acting strangely, boys will always blame PMS. (Also, if I made it so he **_**did **_**think Pepper was jealous, this story would be exponentially shorter than I have planned. I CALL CREATIVE LICENSE!! Don't rebuke me!) I also upped the rating to "T" just in case (PMS might be the start of some more mature language. They are teenagers, you know)**

_**REPLIES TO THOSE ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: **_

_**Griffin- this will definitely be a Tony/Pepper fic. It might be a couple (well, more than a couple) of chapters before the romance starts, but it will eventually get there. Thanks for leaving a review!**_

**_Miki- Yes, I do indeed live in Canada. And I think we're an episode ahead because we skipped the episode with the Living Laser. IMAA should be everyone's new obessesion. It's just so good. And I did as you requested and reviewed your story! Thank you for your review!_**

**That green and grey button got so much love last time! Let's try it again! **


	3. Moment of Surrender

**A/N: New chapter! I didn't mean to take this long, I'm sorry. This chapter is slightly quieter (potentially more boring) than the last one, but still important. It also may contain spoilers for those of you who are new to the fandom and haven't seen "Whiplash" or "Meltdown"**

**Thanks again to all my lovely reviewers; you really help me keep going. (Mainly because now I think that if I lose interest in this story, I will piss people off and I really don't want that) I didn't have time to reply to any of the reviews (I may have replied to one, possibly two) I'm sorry about that, but thank you all so much for taking the time to review! **

**Oh, disclaimer. Iron Man: Armored Adventures is in no way, shape, or form mine. You've probably figured that unfortunate fact out. I'd have so much fun if it was mine, though. **

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

That night was a relatively quiet (read: boring) night for Pepper. Her homework was completed (including that stupid geometric proofing that wouldn't actually do anything for her life, despite what the teacher told her), and there was no evil wreaking havoc on the city, which meant there was no Iron Man to back up or support. Also, it was her father's day off, so she couldn't sneak onto his computer and research dangerous criminals or read secret government files. As a result, she was bored out of her skull. Even after the hectic day she'd had, this wasn't a good thing.

She had thought of calling Rhodey, just for something to do. But calling Rhodey would mean she would be calling Tony too, and she really couldn't talk to Tony right now. Well, either of them, really. Not after the way she had acted that afternoon: her rant on the bus, her leaving school almost immediatley (through a window, no less) and her not helping with the armor. She made a quick mental note to apologize for all that first thing tomorrow morning.

At ten o'clock, after 2 hours of aimlessly wandering around the house, flipping the TV on and off, rearranging her dad's papers, and making a general nuisance of herself, Pepper decided it was probably time to turn in for the night (her dad telling her that if she didn't do something quiet and/or productive and leave him alone, he'd stop giving her details of his cases helped influence her decision)

However, at eleven, she was still wide awake, lying in her bed and staring at the ceiling. In her head, the day's events replayed. Normally, she was the type of person who could, and would, get over whatever humiliation she had endured quite quickly. But today…today was different. She couldn't get it out of her mind. And it was now her pre-sleep mission to figure out why.

Her father had always given her the advice to retrace steps, since that set you on the right path. She started with Whitney and Tony and the waving. Okay, that had set all the events into motion by striking some sort of chord in her. She ran through a mental list of emotions, trying to pinpoint the one it might have been.

Anger? Well, there had been that, but it was directed towards Whitney waving.

Sadness? Some of that, especially when she saw Tony smile and wave back.

Longing? Yes, because she had never gotten a smile like that from him and she really wanted to.

The urge to march over to the heiress and bop her? Oh, that had definitely come up, and it had taken a herculean amount of will power to not do it.

Resentfulness? Of course. She didn't like how Rhodey had been praising Whitney for shutting off the lights, especially since it made Tony more and more impressed with the blonde. After all, it had been she, Pepper, who had thought up the whole plan. Heck, she had gotten foam all over her body (including in her nasal passages, mouth, and hair) and tied to a chair so Rhodey could slip away and Tony could slip in, and she hadn't even gotten a "thank you" for either of those things. The heiress, on the other hand, got all the credit for pulling a stupid lightswitch. So yes, she was resentful.

Insecurity? That had definitely come up sometime later, when she was getting ready for bed. She had found herself wishing her hair was longer, bouncier, more lustrous and _blonde_, instead of being short, plain, and red. She had also been wishing for a freckle-zapping machine (but there was nothing new with that one).

All of those emotions- anger, resentment, sadness, etc.- had to equate to something. Anger at a member of the same sex for flirting with a member of the opposite sex, followed by a whole string of other emotions, mostly revolving around that action of flirting. One emotion sprang to mind the second she mashed all those emotions together: jealousy. It fit the bill to a T.

Well, that was it then. She was _jealous._ She didn't like Tony even considering being with the evil heiress.

But that brought forth another question. Why was she jealous of Whitney and Tony? The answer seemed obvious to her at first. Tony was a friend. One of her only ones, sure, and one of her close ones. Hell, he was just about classified as a "best friend". It made sense for her to be jealous- she didn't want to lose one of her only friends to someone else for no other reason then that she would be losing a valued friend.

But then the smile came to mind, the heart-fluttering, blush causing grin that Tony had given her on the bus. She could see all the perfect white teeth in her mind's eye. The picture expanded, showing the blue eyes of the boy that smile belonged to, the eyes that had met with her own. She decided then that, besides having a cute smile, he also had pretty nice eyes.

The train of thought continued. She went back in time, back to the practicing of _Hamlet_ on the roof. She thought of how Tony had grabbed her wrist and hadn't let go, not until the scene was done. She remembered the warm tingle of where his fingers had been.

Then she remembered the events with Mr. Fix and Whiplash. True, that night had been scary and she had genuinely feared for her life for most of it. But amid the chaos and general scariness of the night, there had been those ten minutes of peace in the air, with Tony. She thought back to how Tony had swept her up from the street like a knight in -literally- shining armor_, _and then proceeded to keep her held close to him, pressing her up against himself. She felt a pleasant tingle go up her spine as she recalled how, while flying, his arms were wrapped around her waist, and hers were around his neck. _Kinda like dancing…or kissing. _

A giant silly grin spread across her across her face when she thought that and she let out a dreamy sigh. Yes, kissing. She wouldn't mind- actually she'd love- being in that position again, especially if it meant Tony was going to kiss her. Come to think of it, she would really like it a lot if Tony kissed her...

…_Oh, shit. _Her eyes widened at that thought and the smile disappeared. She knew exactly what all those thoughts, all that reminiscing, meant, exactly why she was jealous. And it wasn't what she had originally thought, jealousy at losing a friend. This new answer was so much more obvious, it scared her. She was jealous because she liked Tony.

She _liked _Tony.

She rolled over, buried her face in her pillow, and let out a groan.

* * *

**A/N: There you go, another chapter. I had planned on combining this one with the next one just to make it longer, but decided against it. It kind of ruined the flow of this chapter. But the next chapter will be up within a week, I hope. Hope you enjoyed this one. It's a bit longer, not by much, but I'm pushing myself for at least 1000 words a chapter. **

**Pepper's view of geometric proofing are exactly my own. And if you're wondering what exactly geometric proofing is (because you've been spared from it so far), just drop me a line. (Which translates into "leave a review". That grey and green button is the one you press to do that, so go ahead! Give it some love. )**


	4. Just don't deny it

**A/N: Ok, so just so you all know (most people who asked were anonymous reviews), geometric proofing is the most evil math topic out there. Basically, you are given a circle with a bunch of lines drawn through it, and some angles marked, and are asked to prove why "AD=AC" (or something like that) using formulas, theorems, and laws (and putting "because I said so" or "because they look the same" are not answers. I tried. You need actual, mathematical proof that they're equal). It's time consuming and difficult. And it'll eventually play a part in this story. (Ohhh! Spoiler!)**

**Anyways, your chapter. Once again, a big thank you to all my reviewers! I feel so bloody loved!**

**DISCLAIMER: IMAA is sadly not mine. Not yet, anyway…*tents fingers and laughs evilly* **

* * *

"Hey, you guys, I'm really really sorry about yesterday, you know, ditching you and acting weird and stuff. I'm not sure what it was, well, actually I do now, but…ok, that one sucks too."

Normally, if someone was to see someone else talking to themselves, they'd call the funny farm or just give the person a weird look. But this was Pepper- no one really cared. Heck, seeing her talking to herself was relatively normal. Plus, the hallways were nearly empty, it being only 8 in the morning; school didn't start until 8:45. A handful of over eager students were the only ones who could hear her.

Pepper stood by Tony's locker, waiting for his and Rhodey's arrival. She had told herself last night that she'd apologize to them first thing in the morning, and she would. Once she got the perfect apology.

"Rhodey, Tony, I'm very sorry about yesterday," She tried again." I was acting really weird, though I don't know why. I'm really sorry, please forgive me?" Ok. That was good. "You can do this…" she told herself.

"You can do what?"

Pepper yelped as a hand descended on her shoulder. She whirled around to come face-to-face with Rhodey. He pulled his hand off her shoulder. "Well, good morning to you as well." He muttered.

"Good morning Pepper." Tony came up beside them, waving to her. Pepper felt her heart lurch as he gave her a smile. _Nonononono Pepper. Calm down. _

She took a deep breath to calm herself. She had to apologize now, and she had to do it with a normal heart rate. Otherwise, she'd look just as stupid as yesterday.

"Good morning guys." She said, beaming at them. "Um…look, I'm really sorry about yesterday, you know, acting weird and ditching you, and I don't know what came over me, but…"

Rhodey held up a hand to stop her. "It's ok, Pepper. Breathe."

"We're used to you being weird." Tony put in. "Besides, you don't have to worry. We think we know what was wrong with you, and it's ok."

Pepper's eyes widened. "You…you do?"

"Yeah. I don't want to say it out loud, since it might be embarrassing, but we understand perfectly."

Rhodey groaned and slapped his head. "Tony…"

Pepper's cheeks began to get hot and she let out a nervous giggle. _Oh, crap. He__ cannot__ have figured it out. That would be disastrous, not to mention very embarrassing_ "What do you think it is?"

"I don't want to say, it's apparently quite personal and might embarrass you. And we understand why you wouldn't want to tell us. But I just think it would be hard to miss this sort of thin-mmmpph…"

Rhodey slapped a hand over Tony's mouth before he could say anything. "Ignore him."

Pepper had gone from nervous to nervous _and _confused. "Wait, what? What did you guys think it was? Just tell me!"

Rhodey colored a bit, stepped closer to her, and whispered something in her ear. Pepper pushed him away the second he finished. "Ew! I cannot believe you guys thought that!"

"It was Tony who thought it, not me!"

"That's just so…typical of a guy. Ew…"

Mentally, Pepper heaved a sigh of relief. They hadn't figured it out. Her deep dark secret was safe for now, safe from oblivious boys. Impulsively, though with some deliberate thought, she flung her arms around Tony's neck in a hug.

"You are stupid boys, but I love you anyway. Thank you for forgiving me!"

"No problem." Tony replied, wrapping his arms back around her. Pepper gave a sigh of contentment. They had forgiven her, her secret was safe, and she was hugging-and being hugged back by- Tony (who smelt really, really nice. A clean, lemony smell, mixed with faint tinges of metal). And then something ruined her moment.

"Tony…is your hand vibrating?"

The two let go of each other, and Pepper saw that Tony's cell phone was in his hand. Rhodey also noticed. "Dude, who's calling you at 8:15?"

"Whitney. And she's texting, not calling."

And just like that, Pepper's previously contentment disappeared and her morning was ruined.

"She wants me to hang out with her after school."

Oh, and now her morning and lunch were ruined. Pepper decided it was time to go before more of her day got ruined. "I'm going to head to my locker." She announced, trying to muster a little brightness into her voice. "See you guys in class."

Turning and walking away, she missed the knowing look Rhodey gave her.

* * *

Every Thursday afternoon, Pepper shared a spare class with Rhodey, Tony, and Gene, so it had become a tradition for them to meet in an empty classroom to talk or study. Her morning hadn't been as ruined as she'd thought, since Tony hadn't spoken of Whitney or received any new texts. So she entered the classroom confident and optimistic that there would be no reason for her to utterly humiliate herself.

20 minutes later, Gene and Tony were having a heated debate about the Makluan rings. She and Rhodey, who were studying for a chemistry test, had migrated to the back of the room to avoid the flying tempers (and any physical thing that could possibly be thrown, like a desk or a book). They looked at each other in similar desperation. If the two millionare teens didn't calm down, they wouldn't be able to study and would likely fail.

"Library." Pepper mouthed to Rhodey.

He picked up on the idea. "Um…we have an idea on how you can settle this, guys." he spoke up.

Both the rich teens looked at him, putting their fight on hold. "And what would that be?" Gene asked.

"Take it to the library! Go look whatever you need to up! Some of us aren't super smart and need this time to study."

There was hesitation from the 2 boys. "Pleeeaaase?" Pepper begged, putting on her most pathetic face.

Tony shrugged. "Might as well."

"Alright, but just so I can prove I'm right."

"You wish…"

The two still bantering boys left the room, leaving Pepper alone with Rhodey. Pepper rolled her eyes. "Genius rich boys, they are something."

She went back to concentrating on her book, but found thirty seconds later she couldn't. She felt as though something was boring into her spine. Looking up, she noticed Rhodey staring intensely at her.

"What? Do I have something on my face? On my shirt? What?"

Rhodey met her eyes squarely. "Pepper, if I ask you a question, can you promise to be truthful and not try to avoid the question?"

"Um…sure?"

"Do you like Tony?"

Ok, so much for not humiliating herself. Pepper turned bright red and bit the inside of her lip. "Um…"

"You said you'd be honest."

Two tense minutes passed, where Pepper and Rhodey didn't say anything. Pepper continued to get redder while Rhodey observed her silently.

Finally, she burst. "OK, yes, I do. But please don't tell him, because if he doesn't like me it'll make things awkward and besides, I think he likes Whitney and…how did you figure it out?"

Rhodey quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not as oblivious as Tony." He explained calmly. "I figured it out after your outburst on the bus. Remember, I asked you if you were jealous of Whitney? You just ran off the bus. That was my answer."

"Oh…"

"Your secret's safe with me." He assured her. "Tony's too oblivious to figure it out on his own."

Pepper hugged him. "Oh, thank you! For a genius, he can be quite stupid, huh? Though I suppose in this case it's a good thing, 'cause if he did know-"

"Pepper, you're cutting off my airflow."

"Sorry." She let go of him. "Um...shall we study now?"

* * *

"Ok, students. That was the bell, so hand your assignments to the front of the class. I'll mark them and give them back to you tomorrow. Have a nice night."

Pepper, Rhodey and Tony gathered up their stuff and left the math classroom, waving farewell to the teacher. The day was over and they were free. "So, that math class wasn't too bad, was it?" Pepper asked.

Tony was about to answer when his cell began to beep. He fished it out of his pocket. "Oh, sorry. That's Whitney."

Pepper snarled. "That's right, you're meeting her."

"Yeah, and I really should get a move on. She gets impatient. See you guys later." With that, he waved goodbye to them and began to run down the hall.

"Yeah, bye…" Pepper muttered grumpily. Since Rhodey knew about her crush, there was really no point in trying to hide her anger. "Go appease her majesty. Wouldn't want her to get impatient."

Rhodey smirked and patted her back. "Eh, put it out of your mind. Let's get out of here. Wanna go mess with some Iron Man stuff?"

Pepper grinned, bad mood shoved aside at the offer. "Oh, yes, yes, yes! Oh! Can I try on the armor? Better idea! Can I can pilot the armor to crash into Whitney?"

Rhodey just shook his head and pushed her down the hall.

* * *

**A/N: There, that chapter is up. Writing it was a good way to unwind after doing all my homework. I had to include Gene in there. I'm becoming such a fangirl for him. **

**A little more action than the last chapter, but not much. Sorry. They will become more action packed as the story goes on. **

**Like always, that shiny button is down there, just wanting to be pressed. It knows I like reviews. So please give me some love and review?**


	5. Butterflies

**A/N: I apologize for the wait. I, sadly, am not the amazing MethodToMadness, who manages to update every day (go read her stuff!). Halfway through writing this chapter, I had another idea for it that took me in a whole other direction and required me to rewrite the whole thing. **

**Griffin, kindly stop stealing my notebooks and stalking my hard drive. I mean, how else could you possibly have figured out what I'm planning to do? Erm…I mean…you didn't guess anything…at all…**

**DISCLAIMER: Like I said before, IMAA isn't mine. Not yet. But I have a three point plan for when I do take over 1) I will get rid of Whitney immediately, 2) shove Pepper and Tony together, and 3) steal Gene all for myself. Anyone want to help with this? (I can't promise I'll share Gene, though.)**

* * *

3 hours later, Pepper was alone in Tony's lab. Rhodey, in what he claimed was an act of his great trust in her, had left to grab some food. Pepper suspected that, despite his claim, he had left some sort of surveillance device turned on her, or had set some sort of trap that would go off if she touched anything. He seemed to suspect that she really wanted to mess around with all the shiny technology in the armory. So, as a result of the probably cameras and/or booby traps, Pepper was perched on one of the tables, swinging her legs and thinking.

Tony had been out with Whitney for a long time. 3 hours, and he still hadn't called either her or Rhodey. Especially after he had just ditched them so he wouldn't make the heiress wait too long for their "alone time".

This anger fired Pepper's jealousy into overdrive. She thought about all the times she had had alone with Tony, and only 2 came to mind. First, the 15 minutes when she first met him, the two of them alone on the roof. Second, the 10 truly excellent minutes she had spent with him in the sky. All other times, Gene or Rhodey had been around.

Then she compared that to the probable amount Tony had spent with Whitney. She estimated it to be a lot more, considering the two had been friends since they were young. Not only was it more, the time spent together probably also had a lot more meaning. They had probably had long discussions about meaningful things, like life, growing up, hopes and dreams, secrets, the best time to go yachting. She had never had any meaningful talks with Tony. (Because really, spouting off all you knew about a person, then later causing them to reveal their deep dark secret to you wasn't a sign of a deep connection being made. It was just a sign that you were a stalker who was good at manipulating people)

And right now, they were probably having more deep discussions. Establishing a deeper bond. Though Pepper wondered if it was possible to establish a bond with someone like Whitney. She didn't know the girl, sure, but she knew that she certainly didn't want to establish any connections with her. Honestly, why would Tony want to be friends with a girl who didn't like being ignored? Could someone please say "high maintenance girlfriend"?

Still…maybe rich guys liked having high maintenance girlfriends. It was a way for them to show off their wealth, and most girls like that were total trophy material.

Deciding it was a bad, depressing idea to torture herself by thinking like that, she decided to torture herself in a different way. She pulled out her cell and began to furiously text. Seconds later, a message reading "So, what did u and Whitney do?" was sent through various wireless contraptions to-hopefully-reach Tony.

She flipped the phone closed and sighed, lying down on the table and closing her eyes. If he replied soon, it meant he had left Whitney and was on his way home. If not, he was still with her. She hoped he'd reply, and she hoped that her message didn't make it too obvious she was jealous. _Hahaha. It's Tony. Like he'd figure it out. _

There was a whooshing sound, followed by some beeping. Rhodey was back! Her desolate mood faded away. Rhodey back meant she could move again, and maybe continue to persuade him to let her at least _touch _the suit. He had pretty much shot down her idea of using it to cause severe injury to Whitney.

"Good, Rhodey, you're back." she began, pushing herself back up to a sitting position. "So, did you think about my idea?"

"What idea?"

Pepper opened her eyes, intending to glare at Rhodey. Instead, she found herself looking at Tony. The millionaire had his cell phone out and was looking at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Alone?"

"Gee, what a greeting. Nice to see you too, after you so rudely left us."

"What? I said bye!"

Pepper scoffed, but answered the question. "I'm here because Rhodey said I could. But it's not like it's his place to tell me if I can or not, since I am a part of this team. Just like you are. Heck, you're the leader of the team, so shouldn't this mean you spend more time with us?"

Whoops. She had let a bit of jealous Pepper slip through. Luckily, Tony just looked confused. "I'm sorry? Anyways, you said Rhodey was here with you?"

"Well, he was. He went out to get some food. Thank goodness, since his growling stomach was really loud and getting really annoying. Hey, did you get my text?"

Tony held out his phone. "I was just about to reply to it."

"Well, you still could if you wanted to. But telling me in person would be so much simpler."

Tony hopped up onto the table to sit beside her. _Right _beside her. Pepper stifled a squeal as she realized just how close they were. Honestly, their shoulders were pressed together, and their hands were almost touching. And if she were to swing her legs, she would run the risk of getting them intertwined with his. Not that she would mind, exactly, but it might be awkward for him. She subtly moved her hand that much closer to his.

"Well," Tony started, "We didn't do much. We went for a walk and talked."

Pepper leaned closer to him, giving the impression that she was genuinely interested in what he had to say. "What did you talk about?"

"I dunno, life. She was telling me about hers, I was telling her about mine. It revolved around school, for the most part." He stopped and looked back at her, meeting her wider, eager eyes. "Why the sudden curiosity?"

"Uh.." Pepper fumbled around for words in her head, looking away so he wouldn't see her going red. She couldn't let him know she was curious for her own jealous sake. "Oh, no reason. I'm just interested in what goes on in your life. I want us to be better friends, you know?" _Or more…but I'm not going to say __that __out loud. _

She heard Tony chuckle and turned to face him again. He suddenly put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. "I want to be a better friend with you too, Pepper." He told her.

Pepper looked up at him, about to say something, but stopped. Their eyes met, and her breathing hitched as she realized just how close their faces were. If she were to lean in just a bit more…

Her stomach did flips at the idea and her heart began to pound, but she didn't look away. She just sat there, pulled against Tony, the two of them inches away from each other. She slowly began to lean in closer…

There was a whooshing, followed by a crunching. This time, Rhodey actually was back. "Tony!" he yelled, voice muffled by the amount of food he had in his mouth. "Nice of you to drop by!"

Tony let go of Pepper and hopped off the desk. Pepper nearly fell over, since she had been supported by Tony. _Stomach trumps bonding time_ she thought sarcastically.

She stared at the ground beneath her, butterflies still dancing happily in her stomach and. Had she just been about to kiss Tony? Holy crap, she had been. The thought of it made her heart pound faster. Ok, if she had kissed him, what would've happened? Would he have liked it, or pushed her away and ignored her? And what would it have been like for her?

"Pepper, you want any?" Rhodey called from across the room.

Pepper stopped her wondering and looked up and across the room. She took in all the food Rhodey had gotten, which was a lot. Her eyes then wandered over to Tony, who was giving her a grin. "C'mon, Pepper." He said. "If you don't hurry over, we'll eat it all."

Her stomach did one last flip before she pushed herself off the table. "Hey, no, don't eat all the chips!"

* * *

**A/N: Welp, there you are. I apologize if I didn't really articulate Pepper's close call with Tony that well. Sadly, my romantic experiences haven't even gotten that far *sobs* **

**Also, I've started another IMAA project. It's shaping up to be more serious than this one, but it'll also be Tony/Pepper. If anyone's interested in it, please let me know. I'll have the summary up in my profile by the weekend.**

**Anyways, push that button down there to tell me what you think about the chapter!**


	6. So you had a bad day

**A/N: Ok, I lied, you are getting an update. I really should be studying Religion right now, but I decided to get this done so I don't have to worry about it anymore. (and hey, it's a long chapter!) And just to clarify: this story is less about the "action" aspect of IMAA, and more about the "High school" aspect. So it'll have minimal fight scenes, minimal "Iron Man" overall. Sorry if that bores you, it's just the way I planned the story to be**

**Oh, and if you're looking for more to read, I published another story called "What a Tangled Web". The prologue is all that's up right now, but I have the first chapter written and it will go up next week. Just so y'all know. **

**Anyways, enjoy.**

**-----------------------**

There were 3 important things Pepper had learned in her life so far. One, it was impossible to slam a revolving door, no matter how hard you tried or how angry you were. And trying multiple times to slam it after making a dramatic exit resulted in you just looking stupid.

Two, it was never, under any circumstances, a good idea to surprise an FBI analyst while they were busy studying a confiscated high-tech weapon. Things tended to explode horribly when one did that.

And three, there always had to be some sort of balance in life. A truly superb weekend was always countered with a truly crappy week. Or, in the worst-case scenario, an extremely shitty day (pardon the French) of the "wouldn't-wish-this-fate-on-your-worst-enemy" variety.

Pepper had to wonder what she did in a past life to earn the latter case.

-----------------------

Pepper walked into school still riding her high from the weekend. Friday had been only a half day, and she'd had spares for most of it. The rest of the day had been spent plotting with Tony, Gene, and Rhodey about Makluan rings. Saturday, they had headed down to Jersey to explore an ancient Chinese temple there.

That trip had been a double-sided thing. On the one hand, not only had she gotten to explore an ancient temple, she also had alone time with Tony (some of which had consisted of her landing on top of him in what was an extremely…compromising…position). On the other hand, most of that alone time had consisted of her and Tony nearly getting squished by ancient warrior statues. Still, it had been fun.

And Sunday had just been a plain day of relaxation, since everyone needed one of those.

And this morning, she had a job fair to look forward to. S.H.I.E.L.D was rumored to have a booth there, which meant she would be able to ask them about jet packs.

-----------------------

Pepper bounced happily beside Rhodey and Tony as they walked into the gym, eager to look at booths. Students walked around, studying pamphlets and conversing with each other.

"What is the point of these things?" Tony asked, seemingly the only bored one out of the hundreds of students.

"It's for people to see what kind of careers are out there for them." Rhodey told him, somewhat impatiently.

"But I already have a career planned out for me. I'm going to take back my company, remember? Act as the CEO, make all the rules?"

Rhodey and Pepper looked at each other, rolling their eyes simultaneously. "Wow, can you get anymore vain?" Pepper asked. "Just outta curiousity?"

Tony chose not to answer that. Rhodey instead spoke. "Well, while you may have your future planned and handed to you on a silver platter, plebeians like Pepper and me need to figure out what we're going to do."

"Just come work for me. You can have Stane's job, when I fire him."

"I repeat: how vain can you get? Besides, if I work for S.H.I.E.L.D., I get a jetpack. If I work for you…" she shrugged. "Oh! Look! The S.H.I.E.L.D booth! I might be back, but don't count on it."

She was about to take off when she notice the principal walking towards them. "Never mind. Whatever it is, it wasn't me who did it. This time."

"Good morning." The principal greeted the three of them with a cordial nod. "I trust you are doing well?"

The three of them gave him large grins. "We're doing excellent, sir." Rhodey answered.

"Glad to hear it. Mr. Stark, can I request your services with something?"

Tony looked taken aback. "Uh…sure. What can I help you with?"

"We have a new student starting here today. I was wondering if you could show them around."

"I'd be glad to, sir. But I'm new here myself. Maybe Pepper or Rhodey could do it instead?"

"Well, she specifically requested you."

He motioned for the new student to come forward, and Pepper's face fell as who it was. Long, shiny blonde hair with not a strand out of place, impeccable make-up, designer clothing that had not a wrinkle, really pointy, high, uncomfortable looking shoes.

Whitney.

The heiress gave them all a large grin. "Nice to see you."

The world was starting to right itself. The crappy day had commenced.

-----------------------

Pepper's previous high was dead the second she saw the blonde. Now, not even the S.H.I.E.L.D booth could excite her. Instead, she sat on the bleachers with Rhodey, watching Tony talk to Whitney.

Rhodey looked over at the red head and placed a comforting hand on her back. "It'll be OK, Pepper. I bet that she'll get bored with this peasant school and leave after a couple of weeks."

Pepper glared up at him. "Not if Tony's here, she won't."

She inclined her head to the two rich teens, who were passing by quite close to her and Rhodey. Whitney was latched to Tony's arm, observing everything around her with, admittedly, a bored stare. But she was still clinging to Tony, and that's all that mattered to Pepper.

Rhodey gave a sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Seconds later, he added in absentmindedly. "But you gotta admit, Whitney is a hottie."

Pepper shoved him off the bleachers as hard as possible and left, grinning as she heard the thud.

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Ever since Whitney had made her appeaerance at the job fair, Pepper had had to watch her cling to Tony like a parasite everywhere they went. It had just worsened her mood, and served to make her day a lot worse. And last class in particular just added icing to the cake of unhappiness.

"As you know, I left your assignments in my car on Friday." The math teacher, Mr. Buchanan, told the class. People began to giggle.

"Sure ya did!" one kid yelled. The teacher ignored him.

"But today, I have them!" he pulled a bunch of papers off his desk with flourish and began to walk up the aisles the desks made. "As I'm passing them out, be sure to have the weekend's homework on your desk so I can collect it."

Pepper pulled out her homework, folding out all the creases it had developed sitting in her backpack. She suddenly got very nervous. She was sure, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that her assignment would come back with a large red "0" on it. The second the teacher placed it down, he proved her right. Not only was there a zero, there was also a "Please see me after class."

Pepper passed the rest of the class in despair, just counting down the minutes until her meeting with Mr. Buchanan. When the bell rang, she packed up but waited for the last student to leave before getting out of her desk.

She walked to the front of the class, where Mr. Buchanan waited for her.

"You wanted to see me?"

The teacher nodded. "I see you're having trouble with this chapter."

Pepper gave a noise of frustration. "Yes, I am. But I don't get any of these things we're doing!"

"It does happen." He told her sympathetically. "But I suggest you get a tutor, at least for this chapter. Someone who you are positive will help you understand it. Here, I have some names if you need to see them."

Pepper shook her head, feeling a smile come to her face. "I think I know someone…"

-----------------------

"Tony, I desperately need your help!" Pepper said, running up to him. He was lounging by his locker, listening to Whitney.

"Uh, excuse me, but I was—"

"Not talking to you." Pepper interrupted her, pushing by to get to Tony. Whitney rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Whatever. I'll talk you later, Tony." She turned and walked away, waving at him over her shoulder. Tony waved back, then turned to Pepper.

"What do you need help with?"

Pepper was momentarily stopped by the brilliance of the grin he gave her when he turned to look at her. But she shook her head and cleared her thoughts. "I am dangerously close to failing math. Well, not math exactly, but this stupid proofing chapter, and it counts for a pretty big portion of our mark. But really, honestly, what is the point of this?"

"Fewer words."

"Ah, right. Anyways, Mr. Buchanan suggested I get a tutor, and I could think of no one better than you. So, how 'bout it? Will you tutor me?"

Tony nodded. "Sure. Tuesdays and Thursdays after school work for me. You?"

"Perfect!"

Great. One thing out of the way, and a ray of sunshine in this dreary day. And now, while she had him here alone, she could talk to him about one more thing. "So…um…about Thursday…"

Dammit, was she nervous? Was she-Pepper Potts-nervous?

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to just grab you like that. I was strangely happy, wasn't I?" his voice sounded distracted, and his eyes were fixed on something else.

He didn't mean to? Ok, well, that was depressing. And chances were that if he didn't mean to do it, he probably had no clue that she had been about to kiss him. That nullified the happiness from him agreeing to tutor her. "Yeah, yeah you were. Any reason why?"

Tony shrugged, but still didn't turn to look at her. His eyes were focused on something at the other end of the hall. Pepper followed his line of vision and found herself staring at Whitney's retreating back. Or, more specifically, her sashaying hips as she strutted away. Wow, could that girl walk any slower? And did her shoes make her walk that stupidly?

However, Tony seemed to be somewhat entranced by the heiress and her stupid strut. Pepper rolled her eyes in disgust. And then she got her answer. He had been all happy because of his time with Whitney. A sudden sadness sprang up in her and she gave a deep breath, determined not to let it show.

"Well, anyway, thanks for agreeing to tutor me. I should go now, tons of homework. G'bye."

He waved, but Pepper noticed he hadn't taken his eyes off Whitney to do so.

Yep, this had definetly been a crappy day.

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**A/N: *cue theme song from "Jaws"* it's Whitney! Are you excited yet? **

**Ok, that is done! I can get back to studying. Please leave a review, tell me what you think (I like input into what I should do)**


	7. Tensions

**A/N: I meant to have this up way earlier, but I was having too much fun writing the next couple of chapters (which means updates on them will be faster! Celebrate!). So I won't blather on, just thank all my reviewers for being excellent!**

**Disclaimer: Well, until I can get an army of supporters willing to take over IMAA with me, I guess it's not mine. Sorry.**

**-----------------------**

The next couple days seemed to achieve a delicate balance of excellence and awful.

On the one hand (the awful hand), Whitney was still at the school. She hadn't given up on the school, unfortunately (Rhodey owed Pepper 10 dollars as a result). And she hadn't given up on Tony, despite the fact that the tongue of every other guy practically lolled out of their mouth when she went by. The blonde was always close to him, trying to drag him away from her and Rhodey and making demeaning comments while doing so.

And Pepper was learning that her initial impression of Whitney, an attention-seeking snob who didn't take no for an answer, was correct. Not only did the girl demand all attention on her, she had a sharp tongue and a keen eye for flaws. It was aggravating, watching her snap at anyone who got too close to her. Any hope that Pepper had had that Whitney would have some redeeming character traits that would make her somewhat stand the blonde was quickly squashed.

However, Whitney's attention-seeking ways contributed to the excellence hand. It always made Pepper giggle to hear Tony complaining about her.

"She's everywhere, Rhodey! It's like she made her schedule match mine, like she memorized all the hangouts I have at the school and follows me there. And if I'm not at school, she's texting or calling me. I thought it would be awesome having her here, but she's driving me insane!" was one of the complaints Pepper had been lucky enough to overhear.

It was enough to almost make her tolerate Whitney's presence. Almost.

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That Tuesday was Pepper's first tutoring session with Tony. The two of them sat in the library, books opened and work spread out over the table. For once, Whitney was blessedly out of the way.

"Ok, let me see your homework."

Pepper pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Tony. He looked it over. "Oh, this stuff is pretty simple." Pepper glared at him. "Ok, so basically, you want to find these 3 angles."

Pepper pushed her chair in closer to his so she could see. "Now, the first one should be pretty simple, since it's supplementary with this angle…"

30 minutes into the session, Tony's multi-purpose gadget began vibrating, the blue dot in the center glowing brightly. Tony ignored it and continued to instruct Pepper. But after 5 minutes, the thing was still vibrating and was seriously beginning to tick Pepper off.

"Tony, can you please do something about your gadget? It's really starting to bug me and it's throwing off my concentration."

Tony picked the phone up, pushed a button, and put the phone back down. The phone just sat there, not vibrating or moving, the blue dot dim.

"Let me guess: it was Whitney?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "The girl just won't leave me alone! She's getting so annoying."

Pepper shifted a bit so Tony couldn't see her smug grin. If Tony thought Whitney was being annoying, that spelt hope for her!

"Anyways, do you think you understand this now?" Tony pointed to the math.

Pepper turned back and looked at the work. "For now. But I'll definitely need another session on Thursday, since I have a test on Monday. Oh, how should I repay you for this tutoring? Cash, check?"

Tony laughed. "I think I'm good on the money front. But, you can do something for me." Peppers heart leapt as she played out various scenarios of what this could be in her head, and then fell as he continued. "You know that project A.I.M gave me?"

Pepper recalled Tony saying something about machine-controlling devices that worked telepathically. Or something like that. She honestly hadn't been paying attention when he got all scientific. The fact that he had been recharging-shirtless-while telling them had gotten the lion's share of her attention. But she nodded anyway. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, I think I'm ready to try them out on people now. So, do you want to come over to the lab tonight and try it out?"

In her head, Pepper did some mental calculations. Helping with a project translated into alone time with Tony.

"YES!"

-----------------------

Unfortunately, Pepper's calculations had proven to be incorrect.

When she had gone over to the lab, Rhodey had been there as well. After outfitting the both of them with yellow, octagonal pieces of metal, Tony had told them to concentrate. Neither of them had been able to do whatever it was Tony had wanted though. He had let them go free so he could fiddle around with them more.

The next day, he had gotten Gene and Happy to also help out with his experiment. It was after school, and the 4 of them sat in one of the empty labs, waiting for Tony to finish fiddling with one of the headpieces.

Suddenly, the door opened and a snide "Wow, you Tomorrow Academy kids sure know how to have a good time," was heard.

Pepper mentally cursed as Whitney walked into the room, high-heeled shoes clicking on the floor. Shouldn't she be attending some high-class dinner or something?

She noted with disgust the fact that Gene and Happy's eyes followed the heiress. _Put those tongues back in your mouths…_

"Nice accessories, everyone." The blonde continued, coming to stop right beside Tony.

Tony looked up from his work to smile at Whitney. "Hey, Whitney."

"Is this the A.I.M. thing? I thought you were finished with this?"

Tony shook his head. "I'm almost done. You can help, though. I'm trying these out on as many different brainwaves as possible."

Pepper couldn't resist. "That's assuming she has a brain…" she muttered, glaring at the blonde. Rhodey gently kicked her under the table at the same time Whitney turned to sneer at her.

"No thanks, Tony. I don't jump through hoops for anyone, unlike your little pet." She emphasized the word 'pet' by glaring at Pepper.

That did it.

"Oh, you so did not just call me his pet!" Pepper pushed herself out of the chair, disturbing papers as she did so. She marched around the desk until she was face-to-face with Whitney. The blonde girl was regarding her with a smug smile on her face, eyes clearly beaming the message that she was superior. It just pissed off Pepper more. Her hands balled into fists at her side.

"Cat fight!" Happy muttered to Gene.

Tony gently grabbed Pepper's shoulders before she could inflict any damage to Whitney. "Ok, I think we're ready to get started now." He said, steering Pepper back to her seat. She continued to glare at Whitney, though, who still looked smug. Oh, to slap that grin off her face…

"Alright, I'm activating the headsets. Close your eyes and concentrate." Tony announced, pushing a button. Pepper began to concentrate very hard, though not on whatever Tony wanted her to. She was concentrating on what she would do to Whitney to get that stupid grin off her face.

The last thing she remembered was Gene muttering something about what he was going to do to Tony. Then everything went blank.

-----------------------

Pepper started becoming aware of her surroundings some time later. As she looked around the room, she realized the other 3 people who had been guinea pigs in Tony's experiment were also looking dazed. Tony wasn't anywhere around.

Whitney was also there, looking slightly pissed and glowering. Pepper couldn't resist. "Why is the princess pissed?"

Whitney glared at Pepper and huffed. "It's not really any of your business, puppy. Oh, I mean, Pepper."

Pepper snarled at the blonde and the two began another glaring contest. The sudden appearance of Tony diffused the situation. He had a grin on his face; Pepper identified it as the grin he wore whenever he had successfully defeated someone as Iron Man. She made a mental note to ask him about it later. The grin disappeared as he looked around. "What happened? Where are all the bee-keepers?" he asked, all innocent civilian.

Whitney shifted her glare to him. "I wouldn't know, would I? _Someone _locked me in the janitor's closet!"

Pepper burst out laughing while Tony looked apologetic. "I'm so sorry about that. It was an accident."

Whitney turned her back to him, snubbing him. Tony's face expression softened slightly and he walked up closer to Whitney. "Whit, I really am sorry. I thought you'd be safer in there."

Whitney looked back at him and gave a small smile. "Fine. You're forgiven," she said, somewhat reluctantly. "But you have to make it up to me."

Pepper rolled her eyes and made a gagging motion as she listened to the two of them. Rhodey grinned.

Tony nodded agreement. "Deal. Oh, and can I speak to you for a second? In private?"

Whitney raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, letting Tony take her arm and lead her out of the classroom. Tony turned around and waved at Pepper and Rhodey. "Don't wait up!" he told them.

Whitney also turned around, but instead of saying goodbye, cast a look in Pepper's direction. That stupid smug smile was back, and Pepper swore she saw the blonde stick out her tongue.

"That girl…" she muttered.

Rhodey put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know…"

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"Whitney, why did you come here?"

Tony and Whitney were both on the roof, Tony lounging against a wall, Whitney pacing back and forth. Whitney turned away from him and sighed. "My dad wanted me to transfer here to spy on you."

"And you accepted?!"

She turned back to him, a small smile on her face. "Of course. But not for his reasons. I had my own."

"Oh, and what would those be?"

Whitney knelt down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I wanted to see you. I wanted to spend more time with you. Only being able to see you once a week after school, in secret? That wasn't working for me. I wanted to be with you more often. "

Whitney took her hand off his shoulder and sat down beside him. "What, you have nothing to say?"

Tony shook off his initial shock and looked at her. "You just wanted to be with me?"

Whitney gave him a sweet smile and nodded. "Yes, I wanted to be with you."

That remark lingered in the air between them, leaving the two of them silent and staring happily at each other.

-----------------------

Pepper, from her position outside the school, could see the silhouettes of Tony and Whitney on the roof. She watched as Tony sat down somewhere, then as Whitney joined him. She fought the urge to cry. This just wasn't fair.

"See you tomorrow, Potts."

Pepper looked around to see Gene, who was waving to her as he walked away. An idea formed in Pepper's mind. She had time to kill before she had to go home, since her dad wouldn't be there for a while, and she didn't want to spend that time alone. And if she was _extremely_ lucky, this might make Tony jealous if he heard about it. _Hahaha. That'll be the day…._

"Hey, Gene wait up!"

Gene stopped, waiting for her. "Yes?"

"So, do you, by chance, wanna get a drink with me?"

"Uh…Sure?"

"Perfect!" Pepper grabbed his arm and practically dragged him down the sidewalk.

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**A/N: I know in the show Whitney and Tony had their little talk the next day, but I changed it. It was also against my nature to put in a Whitney/Tony scene, but it was kinda necessary. I'm sorry, please don't flame me. (Please please please don't!) **

**As I mentioned at the beginning, I was having more fun writing the next couple of chapters. Doesn't mean they're done.**

**Reviews sustain me and give me reason to write the next chapter! Please review! (Oh, also! Chapter 1 of "Tangled Web" is up, if you're interested)**


	8. It's the end of the world as we know it

**A/N: I'm sorry for the delay. The second I got off of school, my brain shut down and I couldn't bring myself to do anything productive. I'm lazy for the first couple days of freedom. Plus, some amazing fanfics I love have been updating, thereby distracting me. And then I couldn't think of what to write, until I found some discarded ideas for other chapters sitting on my hard drive. So, I stole some to use in this chapter. **

**My gosh, this story has been hit more than 1000 times! Thank y'all so much! And thank you for all the reviews as well!**

**Ok, here we go, chapter 8**

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Pepper went home that night with a feeling of pleasantness. Her time out with Gene had been, despite all skeptic expectations, quite nice. She had agreed to keep all thought of his step-father's questionable business matters to herself, so long as he agreed to keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum. This arrangement worked out best for the two of them, and Pepper found out she and Gene had more in common then she thought. And she found out he wasn't as much as a smug, conceited rich kid as she'd originally guessed.

So, she had gone home with a pleasant haze hanging around her.

Too bad it didn't last.

First, her alarm went off at 4 am, for whatever reason. This was after having a less-than-peaceful sleep- she had woken up at random intervals at the night for strange reasons (she was thirsty, she was cold, and she had an inexplicable urge to eat a piece of bread that had to be fulfilled before she could sleep again). After dragging herself out of bed to turn the buzzing alarm off, she tried to go to sleep again. That proved to be a useless effort, despite the fact she was dead tired. Instead, she lay in bed and stared at the ceiling.

At 7:00, she hauled herself out of bed again to a take a shower. She was enjoying the beautiful warm water when it suddenly became ice cold. She let out an ear piercing shriek and lunged out of the shower, dripping wet and freezing. Only then did her father remember to tell her that the water heater was on the fritz and to avoid taking a shower. His daughter's cold glare was the last thing he saw as he left for work.

She found, 20 minutes later, that there was nothing to eat. Her dad hadn't gone shopping last night, despite the reminder on the fridge that said "BUY FOOD" in bold, fluorescent pink letters. And once again, he hadn't told her. She scrounged around in the cupboards, leaving a mess, but found a granola bar and an apple.

She had just begun her walk to school when the clouds burst and rain started coming down in buckets. "Great. Another cold shower…" she muttered, holding her jacket about her head. Not only did it tire out her arms, it did little to protect her from the rain. A block from school, a careless, inattentive driver went right through a puddle about the time Pepper was passing by, soaking her fully. This time, she swore.

By the time she got into school, she was soaked to the bone. Rhodey was waiting by her locker. His eyes widened when he saw her. "Um?"

"Don't. Even. Ask." Pepper snapped, marching over to her locker. Rhodey stayed silent, allowing the redhead to yank open her locker and shove everything she needed into her bag.

Pepper silently gave him thanks for not saying anything. She liked that he knew when to keep silent. It made it so much easier for her to blow off steam. Looking up from jamming a textbook, she realized Tony hadn't showed up yet.

"Where's Tony?"

Rhodey grimaced, but inclined his head. Pepper looked past him to see Tony walking down the hall, his arm around Whitney's waist. The blonde looked incredibly happy, though she was gloating as girls walked by and wistfully stared at Tony. She sent a particularly victorious grin Pepper's way when she passed by.

Words failed Pepper, and she looked to Rhodey desperately. "You…may want to talk to Tony about this…" Rhodey muttered. That told Pepper everything, and her brain snapped. She said nothing else as she gently closed her locker door and walked down the hall, but Rhodey swore he heard her sniffle. He decided he was right when Pepper broke off into a run.

"Something wrong with Potts?" Gene came up beside Rhodey, also watching Pepper disappear down the hall.

Rhodey sighed. "She's having a very bad morning."

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Pepper was fully crying by the time she reached the pool changing rooms, and she didn't really care who knew. This day, only a couple of hours old, already sucked. It was a million times worse than the day Whitney came to the school.

The pool changing rooms were pretty much deserted during the beginning of school, giving Pepper the chance to have a breakdown without anyone seeing. But she wasn't going to take chances. She went into one of the changing stalls, closing the curtain behind her. Then she began to bawl.

This was not fair. It just wasn't fair at all. Whitney was a snob. A gorgeous snob, sure, but she was still a snob. As far as Pepper was concerned, she had no redeeming traits, nothing good about her. She complained, and moaned, and gloated and was just a downright _bitch _all of the time.

Whereas she, Patricia Potts, was almost the complete opposite. She normally didn't like to toot her own horn, but at least there was something good about her. At least she had a personality. She didn't make rude comments unless completely deserved, she was useful, she didn't complain as much.

Yet Whitney got Tony…no, it just wasn't fair at all.

Pepper took a shaky breath and ran her fingers through her slowly-drying short hair. Just now she became aware of the fact that her outfit was still soaked. She stood up and got out of the change room, heading over to the mirror.

The second she saw her reflection, she felt like crying again. She looked awful. Her eyes were red, her hair was drying strangely, her outfit was soaked and there was a giant splash of mud on her left side. Splashing warm water on her face to reduce the redness, she resolved to go to the office and get a pass excusing her from first period so she could take a warm shower and dry off her clothing. The secretary took pity on students, especially when it looked like their day was starting off badly. She left the change room, thanking the greater powers for nice secretaries.

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Third period had Pepper sitting beside Tony, with no Rhodey or Whitney in sight. Her change room crying session, coupled with the fact that she was now warm and dry, left Pepper in a much better mood; one more willing to calmly do anything, including have a chat about relationships.

When the teacher left the room to take a phone call, she took the opportunity to strike up the discussion with Tony.

"So…you and Whitney?" She asked as casually as possible, trying to keep any sadness or jealousy out of her voice.

"You heard?"

"Saw, actually. Considering you didn't tell me and I had to see it for myself this morning."

Tony looked defensive. "It just happened last night, I swear. And I tried to call you, but I guess your phone was off."

Oh, ok. That was her fault. She had turned it off so her dad wouldn't be able to call her while she was out with Gene.

Gene…that was right. Her devious plan resurfaced in her mind. Even if Tony had a girlfriend-however temporary she might be- maybe her plan would still work. And if it didn't, well, maybe something good would happen if she told him.

"Oh, yeah, I turned it off so no one could bug me while I was out with Gene." She told him as nonchalant as possible.

"You went out with Gene?" Tony looked shocked. Pepper had to hold in a giggle at his face expression. This was going to be good.

"Uh-huh. I invited him to get a drink with me to get past the traumatic experience of that A.I.M thing." Nothing like egging Tony on. Oh, she was so devious.

"Oh, well, as long as you guys had fun." Tony turned away from her to get something from his backpack, ending the conversation. The teacher also returned, destroying any chance of Pepper bringing it up again.

Pepper grumbled as she turned back to her book. That was disappointing.

-----------------------

At the end of the school day, Pepper bounced out of class to meet up with Rhodey at his locker. She guessed that Tony would be at Whitney's locker, so she'd be able to talk to Rhodey about Tony's new girlfriend.

Her guess proved incorrect. Tony was lounging against Rhodey's locker, talking to him. Pepper approached them. "Hey guys! Tony, I thought you'd be with your girlfriend." She fought to keep contempt out of her voice.

Tony shrugged. "She had to stay behind for a bit to talk with the guidance counselor. What's with the CD in your bag?"

Pepper angled her body so she could get a glimpse of her bag. The zipper was partway open and a jewel case was poking through. Ah…another opportunity to bait Tony. "Oh, that's a CD that Gene wants to borrow. He likes the band, but hasn't had a chance to get the CD yet, can you believe it?"

She shut up to gauge Tony's reaction. His eyebrow's furrowed momentarily, but then returned to normal. So close to getting a visible reaction. Just then, Gene passed by.

"Oh, there's Gene. I'd better go! See you guys later." She gave Tony and Rhodey quick hugs, as was her norm. Then she left, running to catch up with Gene. "Hey, Gene! I brought your CD!"

"Can you believe she went out with Gene?" Tony asked the second Pepper was out of earshot. He watched her as she caught up to Gene, pulling the CD out of her back pack and handing it to him. Gene said something to Pepper that made her laugh. Tony's eyes followed them as they left the building, Pepper chatting happily all the way.

"Yes, I can. You were busy."

"What does that mean?"

Rhodey shrugged, turning to face his friend. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this? You have Whitney now."

Tony shrugged. "I know that. It's just…" he stopped.

"Just what?" Rhodey prompted.

Tony shook his head. "Nothing. It's just nothing."

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**A/N: Fun facts! The whole thing about the "bad day" was going to be in chapter 6, where the pinnacle was Whitney showing up. But this works better, wouldn't you agree? To have a superbly crap morning, topped off by the fact that your crush has got a girlfriend? **

**I wrote out the scene where Pepper and Gene are getting their drinks together, as well as the scene were Pepper and Gene are talking to each other after school (the scene that Tony is watching while talking to Rhodey.) If people are interested, I could post them. **

**Just let me know in a review if you want 'em posted or not. (by that, I mean please review!)**


	9. BONUS SCENE 1Coffee and Conversation

**A/N: Here you get a brief interlude detailing Gene and Pepper getting a drink. Consider it bonus content and enjoy!**

**Happy belated Independence day, American readers! And belated Happy Canada day to my fellow Canucks. Hope both days were enjoyable, safe, and fun!**

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"Why did you ask me here?" Gene asked bluntly, meeting Pepper's eyes from across the table. The two sat in one of New York's café's, waiting for the waitress to come over and take their orders

_Because I wanted to make Tony jealous and I think spending more time with you is the best way to do that. _Like she'd actually say that.

"Uh, well, because I don't know you very well, right? I want to get to know you better so that any impression I have of you or disproved or justified."

Gene cocked an eyebrow. Or, at least, Pepper thought he did. The sunglasses kind of made it hard to tell. "That was quite a mouthful, Potts. Didn't think you were capable." He ignored her glare. "So this is in no way a trick by you to get information about my stepfather? Because you sound suspicious."

Pepper blinked. She honestly hadn't thought about doing that until he mentioned it. Still, it was good he guessed that and not her actual intent. She shook her head emphatically. "No, no. I swear it's not."

Gene looked at her suspiciously. "Tell you what. You keep all ideas of my step-father's alleged, unproven activities to yourself, and this whole 'get to know me' thing will go much smoother."

"Hey, that's not fair." Pepper protested.

"What's not?"

"I have to watch what I say, but you don't? Nu-uh, no fair, not happening."

"Fine. What can't I do, then?"

Pepper thought for a second. "No sarcasm. No sarcastic looks, no sarcastic face expressions, and especially no sarcastic eye rolls."

"Like you can see my eyes."

"Hey, that counts. And yes, actually, I can if I look close enough. Your sunglasses aren't that dark. Why do you wear them all the time anyways?"

Gene shrugged. "Aesthetic value."

"What can I get for you guys?" the waitress arrived, notebook open and ready.

Pepper was quick on the draw. "Slice of cherry cheesecake and coffee!" she said.

"No, you don't need any more coffee. You're hyper enough as it is. Just bring her the cheesecake." Gene said. "As for me, I'll take a cup of your green tea."

Pepper reached across the table and punched him in the chest. The waitress looked on with a smile on her face. "Oh, you two are such a cute couple!" she said, beaming at them. "I'll be back with your order soon."

Pepper instantly flustered, completely missing the second part of her statements. "Wha? You think me and him are…? What? No!"

But the waitress was already gone, leaving a red-faced, blithering Pepper. She looked at Gene, who sat there with no discernable face expression. Though his cheeks looked the teensiest bit red…

"Heh, can you believe that waitress?" Pepper asked, trying to make light of the situation.

No response from Gene. Pepper fidgeted uncomfortably as an awkward silence descended upon the two. Suddenly, her phone started going off. As she dug around for it, she noticed Gene's eyebrows shoot up. "What?"

"What song is that? Your ringtone?"

Pepper looked confusedly at her phone, still ringing, then back up to Gene. "It's Poets by HeadTrip." Her eyes widened. "Do you like them too? Oh, you totally do! This is awesome! Neither Rhodey or Tony listen to them, for whatever reason, so it's awesome to finally meet another fan! Have you heard the latest album?"

Gene looked shocked, like he was trying to absorb all she had said in. Pepper remembered that he wasn't used to her tendency to babble on. She politely shut up so that he could have a turn to speak.

"Yeah, I'm a fan of them. But no, I haven't heard the latest album yet. Haven't had much time to go out…" he trailed off and absently clutched at his chest.

Pepper raised an eyebrow. " Well, I have the album, if you want to borrow it. I'll give it to you tomorrow. And seriously, do you have a heart problem or something? You're always grabbing your chest."

"Just a habit." Gene muttered. "Nothing medical. Now, your constant talking, on the other hand? Aren't there pills you can take for that?"

The waitress returned before Pepper could retaliate, setting down Gene's tea and Pepper's cheese cake. And, to Pepper's utter delight, a cup of coffee for her. "You are my new favorite person!" She declared to the waitress. The waitress flashed a grin.

"I can't let your boyfriend boss you around, now can I? That would be breaking the woman's code." With a wink, the waitress turned and left them. Pepper grinned smugly at Gene and stuck out her tongue.

"There is truth to that old saying." She said.

Gene rolled his eyes. "Oh, I saw that! You broke the deal!" Pepper said.

"I wasn't aware this was a deal."

"Well, it was. You owe me."

"Fine. Whatever you like." Gene said. "Now, can I drink my tea while it's hot?"

Pepper nodded, and the two dug into their food. Once content and full, the two continued to talk. Finding out that they shared a common interest in the HeadTrips had successfully managed to start thawing the ice surrounding the two.

What seemed like 5 minutes later, though in reality was 15, a sleek black limo pulled up outside. Gene sighed. "There's my ride."

He pulled out some money and lay it down on the table as he stood up and left. Pepper pulled out her wallet, before noticing that Gene had put down enough to cover the bill and the tip. She put the wallet away and followed him out the door.

"Hey, thanks for getting the bill." She said, catching up with him.

"No problem."

"Guess that's one of the perks of being rich, huh?" Pepper joked. "You don't have to worry about working in the kitchen to pay off your bill, and you get to ride home in a sweet limo."

Gene didn't say anything, but his shoulders stiffened. Pepper bit her lip, worrying that she had said something wrong. But he turned around and gave her a small smile.

"Yep, being rich is pretty awesome. Uh…can I offer you a ride home?"

Pepper shook her head. "No, if a limo pulls up in front of my house, my dad will probably think I've committed some awful crime and government officials have come to take me away. I think I'll walk. But thank you for the offer."

Gene shrugged. "Suit yourself. And as much as I hate to admit it, this was a fun time. Thank you for inviting me."

Pepper felt her cheeks heat up a bit. "Oh, uh, well, you're welcome. I had fun too."

Awkward silence. Then, Pepper hugged Gene. She felt him stiffen again, and quickly let go. But man, he also smelt good. Was it just a rich boy thing to smell good?

"So sorry. It's a habit." She explained, staring at the sidewalk. Her cheeks were burning. "I do it with all my friends."

"I'm a friend now?" Gene asked. Pepper could hear the smirk in his voice. She looked up from the sidewalk and punched his arm.

"You're close enough. So, I'll see you tomorrow? I'll bring the C.D."

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow, Pepper." Gene opened the limo door and climbed in.

Pepper stared at the limo, jaw open. That was maybe the second time Gene had ever called her by her first name! As her shock dissippated, she felt someone staring at her and she turned around. The waitress was looking through the café window, grinning. Pepper blushed again and hurried away.

_Dammit, we aren't actually dating! _

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**A/N: HeadTrip is a band I made up. I honestly couldn't think of any bands that both Gene and Pepper would like. That's what made this bonus content take so long. I just kept staring at that blank spot where a band could go.**

**Holy carp, I think that this is the first vaguely Gene/Pepper thing out there. Cheers for me? **

**I'm going to try really, really, **_**really **_**hard to update one more time (with an actual chapter) before I leave on vacation, so look out for that. I'll still try to update while **_**on **_**vacation, but don't hold your breath too long for that. **

**So, did you enjoy that little bonus scene? What kind of music do you think Gene would listen to? Me, I think rock, but he harbours a love for classic rock. Yeah. Oh, and bonus question. The song title "Poets" belongs to another band (hint: they are Canadian!) Tell me who they are, if you dare!**

**That means review. **


	10. Back to our regular programming

**A/N: I'm glad to see people enjoyed the bonus scene. It was fun to write. **

**Ok, technically I am on vacation. But since our plans to go on a ghost walk were called on account of rain, and my brothers are out of the room, I decided to work on the next chapter. **

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The clock was unusually slow today. Or maybe it was just last period. Whatever the case, the hands didn't seem to be moving- forward, that is. Pepper swore she had seen them go back a couple of times, because there was absolutely no way she still had 20 minutes of English Literature.

As she waited for the class to finally end, Pepper let the teacher's voice drift out of her consciousness as she lost herself in her own thoughts.

Her plan to make Tony jealous was having rather…mixed results. Sometimes, when she went off to talk with Gene, she'd feel Tony's eyes following her, or he'd randomly interrupt their conversation to ask her something. Other times, though, she'd see neither hide nor hair of him. She supposed it was because he was too enraptured with Whitney's hide and hair (though thinking of it in that way just sounded dirty and led Pepper down roads she'd rather not go on). It was so confusing and made her want to scream!

Her thoughts then drifted to her red herring, the unwitting, unknowing pawn in her plan—Gene. She, unfortunately, hadn't been able to spend that much time with him. After the first day, they had kind of drifted apart, hadn't been able to find time to spend together. Gene liked to disappear pretty quickly, especially after school. And it was impossible to find him between classes. During classes, he tended to sit beside Happy. So their times to talk were limited to the two minutes Pepper could catch him, if she ever made the effort.

This was probably a flaw in her plan—not spending enough time with Gene. She blamed it both on her laziness, and the fact she still hung out with Tony and Rhodey during school. She considered it a good idea to hang around Tony so he could see what an amazing, fun person she was compared to Whitney.

Whitney…Pepper shuddered just thinking about her. Luckily, though, Pepper hadn't seen much of her despite her new girlfriend status. The girl was as reclusive as Gene, mainly because she didn't like associating with the little people. When she did deign to be seen with the rest of the students, she clung to Tony like a parasite and only gave scathing remarks or sarcasm. Much to Pepper's chagrin, she continued to slip up and call Pepper "Puppy". Pepper herself had tried making fun of Whitney once, when she had been looking unhappy. Unfortunately, Tony had jumped to his girlfriend's defense and had berated Pepper. That had been a setback. That was why Pepper was happy whenever Whitney kept her distance.

The final bell finally rang, startling Pepper from her thoughts and signaling freedom for the students. Pepper slammed shut the giant book she had been studying and all but sprinted out of class. Today was Thursday, which meant it was her tutoring session with Tony. And it was an important one- she had a test on Monday. She couldn't help the gigantic grin that spread across her face as she headed towards Tony's water cooler…er….locker.

Normally, last period Thursdays were a spare for Tony, but he never actually left the school. He'd either debate scientific things with Professor Kline, who had a free period, or sit on the roof and read. Sometimes he even went to the library to do research. Whatever the case was, he'd always meet her and Rhodey by his locker. There was no reason today was going to be any different.

Pepper should have known that as soon as she thought that, bad things would occur. She stood by Tony's locker waiting. The first 5 minutes, she was patient. She realized she needed to give him leeway time. He was Tony, after all. His debate had probably gotten heated, or he probably had to explain one of the concepts he brought up to Professor Kline. Or he was possibly absorbed in his book or his research.

The second 5, her legs began to hurt from standing. She sat down on the floor and pulled out the book she had to read for English class. Might as well do some homework while she waited for Tony. Students passed her by, giggling and talking as they headed for home.

Sometime later, she looked up from her book. The hallways were silent, barren of any life form. Tony was so late. He would've texted by now. However, when she looked, her phone showed no new messages or missed calls. Then it bleeped once and died before she had the chance to check the time. Growling, she shoved her phone in her pocket and made a mental note to charge it up when she got home.

She spent a couple more minutes lounging by the lockers before she decided to find what time it was. She had no clock now, so she had no clue of how much time was passing. Deciding it was about time (no pun intended) to find a clock, she stood up and wandered the quiet, empty hallways, looking for a classroom door that was open. Most of the doors were locked, though, a sure sign that it was probably past 4:00 and most of the teacher were gone.

Finally, she found one that was unlocked. The clock above the desk told her it was 4:30. Pepper decided to maybe give Tony a couple more minutes. If he wasn't here in 5 more minutes, she'd go search for him.

She spent the next 5 minutes staring up at the clock. Still no noise from the school. When the last second ticked by, she left the classroom and headed up to the roof. After propping the door open with one of her shoes, she searched the entire roof. Nothing. He wasn't absorbed in a book, or napping in a shady spot. Ok, the library then.

The search of the library yielded the same results. Nothing. No one. This was starting to get concerning.

She headed to Professor Kline's room, only to find it was locked. She let out a scream of aggravation. "Where are you Tony?" she muttered. "Why haven't you texted me?"

She tried her phone one last time. The screen flickered to life, but still showed no new messages. Then it shut off. Pepper shoved it back in her pocket. Where was he?

She walked back to Tony's locker, just to grab her stuff and see if he wasn't there waiting for her. As she picked up her stuff, a hand landed on her shoulder. She squeaked and whirled around to face Rhodey.

"Pepper! Why are you still here?"

"I'm waiting for Tony. We have our tutoring session today, remember? Have you seen him?" she blinked. "Why are you still here?"

Rhodey gave her a look. "I was discussing history. Hold on, you mean…he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Rhodey took a deep breath and held his arms out in a position of surrender. "Please, please, please, don't shoot the messenger. But…Tony took off with Whitney the second the bell rang. She asked him if he'd like to get an ice cream with her since it was such a great day."

Pepper let out a string of words too vulgar for repetition (and that would likely get her expelled from school if any teachers had been around). Rhodey stepped back in shock. When she finished, she looked up at him, her freckled face contorted into a look of unspeakable rage. Small animals were about to die. Rhode was pretty sure that wherever she was, Whitney could feel the look.

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Suddenly, while sitting on a park bench beside Tony, enjoying both his company and an ice cream cone, Whitney felt something.

It wasn't a physical feeling, like a touch, not really. It was a feeling of uncontrollable wrath, unparalleled anger, daggers stabbing her back. It was worse than any feeling she'd ever had before. Images flashed into her mind. Forest fires, tidal waves, earthquakes, people screaming, nuclear explosions, giant robots terrorizing cities while people fled before them, the end of the world as she knew it. She shuddered involuntarily.

Tony noticed. "What was that?"

"I don't know. Probably nothing."

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**A/N: So, like I said, this is your last update until late July/August. Hopefully it was somewhat satisfactory? Not much dialogue, I know, but it wasn't set up for that. **

**I'll have plenty of undisturbed cottage time to write. Expect both an update in this and Tangled Web when I return. But prepare for much Gene/Pepper goodness coming your way when I get back!**

**On that note, I want to write more bonus scenes. So, in your review, tell me a bonus scene you want to see and I will write it!**


	11. Anger and Ice Cream

**A/N: I have returned from the wilds of northern Ontario! (Though I am still not home…sad face) Oh, how I l missed warm water, indoor plumbing, almost bug-free environments, and internet. (You can tell I'm a city gal)**

**Ok, you guys don't care about that. On to the story. **

**Disclaimer: I always forget this. I don't own this show yet. Sorry 'bout that. And I don't own Tylenol. **

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Mr. Dean Potts prided himself on running a secure and safe-but never restricting-household. He gave his daughter the liberty to leave the house when she liked and to stay out for as long as she wanted (well, if the time was realistic, that is), as long as she let him know first. That was his only rule. If she was going to leave the house, or go somewhere after school, she had to call, and she had to call before 4:30.

So, as the clock in his office read almost 5 and he still hadn't heard from Pepper, the nervous, over-protective father in him came out. As a result, the phone in the house constantly rang as he tried to get hold of her.

_She's been kidnapped. _He thought. _Kidnapped by a crony of a guy I arrested and they are going to—_

The train of worry came to a halt as someone picked up on the other line. "What?" came his daughter's peeved voice.

His witty response ("Now, is that any way to greet your worried papa bear?") died on his lips as he heard the angry, though tinged with hurt, tone in his daughters voice. The worry train started up again.

"Pepper, are you alright? Where were you? What's wrong?"

"I **don't **want to talk about it." was the dark response, followed by the slamming down of the phone. Dean rubbed his temples and, after wondering why on earth he couldn't have had a son, decided it would be an excellent idea to buy ice cream for his daughter.

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Pepper was furious. Incredibly so. She had pounded the sidewalk with more force than necessary as she walked home. She had slammed the door hard enough to make wall decorations rattle and to scare her cat. The ringing phone had only served to add to her anger, causing her to speak more harshly to her father than she normally would have.

But thoughts of regret and apology were the farthest thing from her mind as she stamped up to her room. No, she was prepared to yell.

The first thing to greet her when she walked in was her phone charger, lying in a tangle on her desk. That reminded her-her phone. The dead phone that hadn't given her any messages, causing her to wait at the school for 2 hours. Better charge that so it wouldn't let her down again.

As soon as she had plugged the phone in, she realized, though she had always known, that it wasn't the phone's fault. After all, the phone didn't have a mind of its own. It didn't deliver text messages late, it couldn't delete text messages of its own accord, and it couldn't block calls unless she told it to. And she definitely hadn't blocked Tony.

So that placed all the blame on one person: Tony. It was his fault. He was the one responsible for telling her, and he hadn't. He hadn't told her at 3, when he had left. And she hadn't received any messages after that. Whitney, though evil incarnate, wasn't demonic enough to tell her boyfriend to deliberately snub Pepper. No, it was his entire fault.

A thought occurred to her and she switched her phone on. Nope, still no messages. She checked her inbox, just in case there was one she had missed, or skipped over. Something she had missed in a previous message, maybe. Zilch. The jerk had completely forgotten about her. She sighed. She would've liked it better if her phone _had_ developed a mind of its own and was deleting messages.

So, this left choices. Tony was too distracted to notice her, which didn't leave her much hope with her crush on him. If he was so wrapped up in Whitney, she had an even slimmer chance than before. And she couldn't spend the rest of her life trying to get him to notice her.

Then, revelation hit her, like it had weeks ago. She was 16, a junior. She had only one more year of high school and there was absolutely no point in wasting what time she had left pining over a boy that, for all intents, she'd probably never have. So really, there was just one choice- she had to let go of Tony and let fate deal with the rest. Laissez faire, c'est la vie, que sera, sera. She could hang out with Gene more, without worrying about whether or not Tony saw. But hey, if he did…

The phone began to ring, surprising her out of her thoughts. She flicked it open to see who it was. Tony. Trying to apologize, she guessed. A small part of her wanted to forgive him and pick up the phone, but the vindictive part of her said no, leave it alone. Let him feel sorry. Let him wait like she had do. She was hurt, and there was no way she was going to be forgiving. She dropped the phone onto the desk and let it ring.

5 minutes later, the ringing finally stopped, only to be replaced by her text-message ring tone. And it was giving her a headache. Grumbling, she left her room to get some drugs.

"Pepper?" a tentative voice called out just as she had put the lid back on the Tylenol. "I'm home. Are you feeling better?"

Pepper poked her head out of the bathroom to see her father in the landing, arms laden with grocery bags. She came down the stairs to greet him, forcing herself into a calmer and happier frame of mind. Frankly, she didn't want to remind her dad about earlier. He'd probably start asking questions…

"Hi, dad. Yeah, I'm feeling fine."

He eyed her warily, probably wondering if she'd snap at him again. She flashed him her best smile. "What's in the grocery bags?"

That seemed to remind him that he was still holding them. "Oh, ice cream. I was thinking you might like some." He pulled the carton of ice cream out of the bag and handed it to her.

Her grin got wider. "Yes please!" she said, grabbing a spoon from a nearby kitchen drawer. Ice cream in hand, she started to head back up the stairs.

"It isn't your math test, is it?" her dad asked as she left. He looked worried. "Because if you need help, I can always try to---"

"No dad, I'm good. I got it." She assured him, retreating back up to her room. "Thanks for the offer. And the ice cream."

The second she got back to her room, the grin disappeared from her face. Her had had just successfull reminded her of the math test, the one she still needed to study for, no thanks to Tony. Great. And it was likely that if she tried to study on her own, she'd end up worsening her mood. There had to be someone else in the school other than Tony who was good at math. She put down the ice cream and picked up her still-charging cell phone from the desk. Ignoring the message that she had missed 12 calls and had 23 new texts, she scrolled through her contacts. One name popped out at her and she smirked. Hey, it was good payback, and he was probably a genius. She pushed the dial button and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Hi, Gene. It's Pepper. Hey, are you any good at this math unit?"

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**A/N: Another chapter with almost no dialogue. Eh, a necessary evil. I tend to write too much dialogue. Also, I like Pepper's dad. Even though he's had about a minute of screen time. I can see him being scared of an unhappy Pepper, even though he's normally a big scary FBI agent who tells her she can't have grenades. This is the only time I'll portray him like this, though. **

**Yeesh, I meant to have this up way sooner. Sorry about that. Just to clarify- junior does mean grade 11, yes? My province doesn't use that, so I'm not sure. If it's wrong, I'm sorry**

**Next chapter is the Gene and Pepper study session—kinda another bonus chapter. (are you excited yet?)**

**Review, lovelies! **


	12. The new tutor

**A/N: update, update, update! This chapter officially starts off the more Gene/Pepper portion of this show…I mean, story. Enjoy**

**DISCLAIMER: This show is not mine, unfortunately. If, however, someone wants to give me it for my birthday, it would be very appreciated *hinthint***

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20 minutes later, Pepper found herself in the same café she'd been in last week, facing the same person. And to add the sameness of it all, Gene started with the same opening line as last time: "Why did you ask me here?"

"I told you, I need help with math…" she replied weakly, motioning to the bag she brought with her.

Gene studied her levelly, one eyebrow rising. "Feel free to correct me if I'm completely wrong, but don't you already have a tutor? Mr. Tony Stark?"

AS if on cue, her cell phone, lying on the table between them lit up and began to ring. Pepper glared at it. She had left it on because her father wanted to be able to reach her, but it seemed to only be Tony calling. It gave her a delicious sense of revenge to see Tony trying this hard to apologize. But it was kind of getting annoying. Gene smirked. "Did I mention how much I like this song?" he asked, clearly amused.

Pepper ignored him. "I did have tutor." She said. "But I don't want to talk to him for a while."

The eyebrow rose again. "You're mad at him? Any particular reason why?"

Pepper bit her lip and looked away from him. "No…" she muttered.

"Potts, if you think I'm going to believe that, then you're obviously not as intelligent as I think you are."

Pepper looked up at him, surprise on her face. Had Gene just given her a compliment? Had he just called her intelligent? Yes, yes he had! Pepper felt a small blush rise on her cheeks and hoped he didn't see it.

Gene looked confused at the shock on her face. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

The phone started going off again, knocking them out of their silence.

"So are you going to tell me why you're mad at Stark?" Gene asked, motioning to the ringing phone where the name "Tony" was visibly lit up.

Pepper sighed and relented the events of the afternoon. Gene listened intently, not trying to interrupt. The phone stopped moving.

When she finished, Gene asked "So, he brushed you off so he could hang out with his girlfriend?"

"Pretty much." Pepper said, feeling the hurt rise up in her again.

"His loss, then." Gene said, looking away from her momentarily. Pepper was again shocked. Had he just given her another compliment? And...and was he blushing? No, that part was probably just her imagination. Awkward silence overtook the two.

"Ok, so should we get to work?" Pepper asked nervously, pulling her books out of her bag and laying them on the table.

"Sure. Show me what you're having problems with."

Pepper flipped open the text book. "What am I _not _having problems with? Well, besides the really easy stuff, but there's not that much of that."

For the next 5 minutes, the two began to work in almost silence. And then the phone started going off.

"Ok, as much as I like this song, it's beginning to drive me crazy." Gene said, reaching across the table and grabbing the cell phone.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Pepper demanded.

Gene flicked it open. "Hello? Oh, hi, Stark. No, I'm not Pepper, but I'm glad you can tell the difference between us. You really are as smart as they say."

Pepper snickered.

"What am I doing with her? Enjoying her company, of course, something I hear you missed out on this afternoon. I'm not sure if I can. Let me ask her." He covered the phone with his hand. "Potts, do you have any interest in speaking with Tony?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm sorry, but she doesn't feel like speaking. Maybe try calling her later."

With that, he flipped the phone closed. Seconds later, he opened it again and began to push some buttons.

"What are you doing?"

"Silencing your ringer." He said, handing it back to her. "Now we can get some work done."

Pepper accepted the phone gratefully. "Why didn't I think of that?" she asked

"Possibly because I am a genius and you will never rival me." Gene answered, straight-faced. Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Explain question 7 for me, genius."

With the phone silenced, Pepper could concentrate on the things Gene was telling her. Their study session went by remarkably fast. When Pepper looked up from her textbook to look at the clock on the wall across from them, it read 7:30.

"Eep. Hey, Gene. I gotta go. I told my dad I'd be home in 15 minutes."

Gene, who had been doing some of his own homework while Pepper worked, turned around and looked at the clock. "Time flies when you're having fun."

"Right. Because math is so much fun." She muttered, beginning to pack up her stuff. "Thanks for helping me today."

"No problem." Gene replied. "If you have any more questions, you're more than welcome to ask me."

"I definitely will." She assured him, then growled. "Considering I'm not talking to the other smart person."

Gene chuckled and picked up her phone. "You missed 6 more calls and a couple texts." He informed her. "All from Stark. Hm. This one says he's 'got something' and wants to know if you want to help. Care to explain that?"

Pepper accepted the phone and shoved it away in her bag without responding. She knew exactly what it meant, he was off being Iron Man, and yes she wanted to help. But she couldn't, because this was an attempt to get her forgiveness. It was such a tempting offer she almost texted him back.

"If you have no plans on answering your cell, why did you even bring it?" Gene asked, breaking through her train of thought.

Pepper turned scarlet, but decided not to lie. Gene was too smart for that. "It makes me feel better knowing he's trying to apologize."

"But you aren't going to answer it?"

"NO." she nearly bellowed. "At least, not today. I'm going to make him wait."

"That's awfully…evil of you. Nice plan, though."

She nodded her thanks as she finished packing up. "Well, thanks again for the help, but I really gotta go." She said, shouldering her backpack and standing up.

"Do you want a ride this time? My limo's coming in 5 minutes."

Pepper's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Ok, forget Tony, _this _was a more tempting offer right now. She had rejected the ride last time, she knew, but this time was different. If she accepted the ride, she'd be able to resist the urge to run to the lab to help with whatever mission Iron Man had, if there even was one. Gene would take her straight home. And, she'd be in a limo! That was definitely a bonus, one she could get excited over. And she did.

"Yes, I'll take the ride this time! Oh, this is exciting! I've never been in a limo before. Does yours have a TV in the back? Or a hot tub? Oh, I bet it's got a mini-bar! Wow, if only I had a limo."

Gene grinned and motioned for her to sit back down. Pepper noticed that his grin was pretty nice, almost as nice as Tony's. "Breathe, Potts. I knew that coffee was a bad idea."

Pepper grinned right back at him. Gene, though stand-offish and sarcastic, was actually a pretty awesome person, she realized. Once you got to know him. This was going to be a fun friendship.

-----------------------

**A/N: Man, it is hard writing for characters that have gotten relatively little screen time (Gene). I mean, he's been a main character in what, 3 episodes? Plus little cameos in a few extra episodes that haven't given us much of his character. GIVE US MORE GENE (For purely writing purposes. Not just because I'm a fangirl. I swear) Hm, well maybe "Ring of Fire" will give us more Gene. But it's still fun writing him and Pepper interacting. **

**Ok, I give you my solemn promise: Tomorrow, there will be another chapter. Look for that update.**

**Also, there is an update for 'Tangled Web' coming soon. Those chapters just take a lot longer to write, since they require a lot more thought and effort. But it is coming! Don't give up hope!**

**Review please? **


	13. BONUS SCENE 2 Phone Calls

**A/N: Whoot! Bonus content! This is the previous 2 chapters from Tony's point of view. Enjoy! The spacing might be a little wonky, and for that I apologize. My**

**DISCLAIMER: This show is not mine. But my birthday is in 5 days. If someone feels they could get the show for my birthday, they are more than welcome.**

**-----------------------**

Tony entered Rhodey's house feeling elated. On top of the world, really. He had just spent a good 2 hours in the company of his new girlfriend, enjoying sunshine, ice cream, her. Life was great. And then he saw Rhodey.

Rhodey was waiting for him at the top of the stairs, arms crossed, toe tapping. He had a 'mother look' on his face, the one children saw when they had done something bad. Tony assumed it was because he had been out for a while.

"Wow, Rhodey. You look like your mom." Tony said by way of greeting, walking by him to get to his room.

"Pepper's mad at you." Rhodey informed him, following Tony into his room. "Really mad."

Tony rolled his eyes and collapsed onto the bed, letting his backpack drop onto the floor. This wasn't any big concern- Pepper was always mad at him for some reason or another. "What'd I do this time?"

"You forgot about her tutoring session and left her waiting at the school for almost 2 hours."

Tony jolted up from his relaxed position with wide eyes. Ok, that was a concern. Life was quickly getting less great. "I did not."

"You did."

Tony got up off the bed and began pacing around the room. He ran his fingers through his hair like he normally did when he was thinking. Rhodey watched with some amusement, deciding that he looked like a caged animal. It was such a change from the swaggering teenager he had been 5 minutes ago.

"How mad did you say she was?" Tony asked, stopping his pacing. His hand was partway through his hair.

"Pretty pissed."

Tony made a noise of aggravation. "What did she do, exactly? When you told her I was out with Whitney?"

"Um…she yelled some words that she definitely learned from FBI agents, got this really angry look on her face, then stormed out of the school."

Tony started his pacing again, muttering something under his breath. Life was finished being great. Life was awful. He had to apologize. He instantly reached for his cell, hearing Rhodey draw in a breath.

"Tony, I don't think…"

But it was too late. Tony had already dialed Pepper's number and had the phone up to his ear. All Rhodey could do was sit down on the bed and listen.

Four seconds later, he pushed the 'call end' button. "Nothing." He muttered dejectedly.

Rhodey shrugged. "She probably doesn't want to talk to you. Let her blow off some steam for a bit." He suggested.

"No, I'm going to call until I get an answer. I need to apologize." Tony's fingers flicked to the 'redial' button.

"Suit yourself." Rhodey muttered. "You'll be waiting a long time."

Rhodey's words rang true. Tony tried calling for ten more minutes, then tried texting. Neither got a response. He waited ten minutes, then started calling again. It wasn't until his 25th time dialing Pepper's number that he got a response.

His heart beat faster as someone on the other line picked up. Yes, he had finally gotten through to Pepper!

"Hello?" the person on the other end asked. The voice sounded nothing like Pepper. It was masculine and vaguely familiar. But he had called Pepper's number, hadn't he? He pulled the phone away from his ear to check. Yep, that was definitely Pepper's number.

"Hello?" he responded tentatively, putting the phone back to his ear.

"Oh, hi Stark."

"Gene? You're not Pepper!" he sounded stupid and he knew it, but all coherent thought had disappeared the second he had realized Gene was the one on Pepper's phone. But what was Gene doing with Pepper's phone?

"No, I'm not Pepper, but I'm glad you can tell the difference between us. You really are as smart as they say."

That was one thing Tony hated about Gene. His sarcasm. He could hear someone giggle in the background. The giggle he recognized instantly as Peppers. "Are you with Pepper? What are you doing with her?"

"Enjoying her company, of course, something I hear you missed out on this afternoon."

Tony ground his teeth and tried to remain calm. "Whatever. Look, could you just put Pepper on?"

"I'm not sure if I can." came the smarmy response. "Let me check." His voice became fainter as he asked. "Potts, do you have any interest in speaking with Tony?"

Tony strained to hear Pepper's response, but try as he might, couldn't hear a thing.

"I'm sorry, but she doesn't feel like speaking. Maybe try calling her later."

"But--"

Gene hung up before Tony could say anything else. He let out a cry of aggravation and swore. Rhodey entered the room seconds later.

"Hey, Tony, dinner." He announced. Then he noticed the 'call ended-1:49' flashing on Tony's phone. "Oh, did Pepper finally answer?" he asked, surprised.

"No."

"But…you were just talking to someone. I heard you."

"Yeah. It was Gene."

"Why'd you call him?"

"I didn't call him! I called Pepper and he answered." Tony practically yelled. Rhodey shook his head sympathetically.

"You should just face it, Tony. She doesn't want to talk to you."

"No! I'm trying again." His fingers flicked to the redial button. Rhodey sighed.

"Suit yourself. I'm going to eat dinner." He left the room again, leaving Tony to continue trying to reach Pepper.

When Rhodey entered the room again, Tony still had his cell phone out and a wide grin on his face. He appeared to be texting someone. Rhodey walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. "'Pepper," he read, "I've got something. Do you want to help?'"

"Genius, right? She can't refuse, she loves helping out Iron Man!"

"Wait, you're pretending to have a mission?"

"Yeah, so?"

Rhodey wanted to slap his friend for his stupidity. "So what if she comes and discovers that you were just pretending? Do you know how pissed she'll be? You better hope she's mad enough to not show up."

"I _know _Rhodey." Tony snapped, aggravated. "But I've called her at least 30 times, and texted her just as much, and all I've gotten in return is the knowledge that she's out with Gene. _Gene, _Rhodey."

Rhodey's eyebrow arched. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you sound jealous."

Tony looked shocked. "Jealous? What? No! It's just annoying me. She's out with Gene, while I'm trying to apologize. And he was being all smug about it too."

"See, it's the whole 'out with Gene' thing that has you outraged."

"No! It's the fact that he's being all smug about being out with Pepper!"

Rhodey sighed and threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright! You aren't jealous! Whatever you say."

"Thank you." Tony said dramatically. He looked back down at his cell phone and dialed again. And, as had been the pattern for the last 2 hours, hung up a couple seconds later with the call unanswered. "Bet she's still out with Gene…" he muttered.

Rhodey smothered a laugh.

-----------------------

4 hours later, after watching Tony call and text Pepper at least 30 more times each, Rhodey decided to call it a night so he wouldn't have to watch the pathetic display anymore.

That, and he had been growing increasingly aggravated with Tony's denial of jealousy. Tony had blamed almost every single unanswered call on the fact that the two were probably still out together. For someone who wasn't jealous, he certainly acted like it. Though if he heard Tony complain about it one more time, he was going to scream.

He had barely been in bed for ten minutes when Tony crept into his room.

"If this is not an actual Iron Man emergency, then I don't want to hear it. I am sleeping!" Rhodey warned.

"I'm sorry. I'm just…" a pause. "Do you think they're still out together?"

"NO!" Rhodey yelled, throwing a sock at him. "Shut up and sleep!"

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**A/N: Ok, there you go. I promised an update, I give an update. This isn't going to be a habit though, so don't get used to it.**

**So, please tell me if you enjoyed that brief interlude into the lives of Tony and Rhodey. **


	14. Ignorance

**A/N: Here is an update. I am now off to enjoy my birthday. **

**DISCLAIMER: This show and all the characters do not belong to me. Unless someone got them as a birthday present. Then they're mine. **

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Pepper was startled out of her sleep that morning by a harsh ringing sound. She blinked her bleary eyes, trying to form a coherent thought in her foggy mind. What was that?

She groped around on the bedside table until she encountered the annoying ringing object. Her cell phone. Of course. The fog in her mind instantly cleared up as she read the caller ID- Tony. The hurt and anger boiled up inside her again. She threw the phone down onto her bed as hard as possible.

"Argh! Stop calling!" she yelled at the phone, which rang once more before shutting up.

Pepper's renewed anger stuck with her as she walked to school, creating a cloud over her mind. In a few short minutes, she'd enter the school, where Tony would inevitably be waiting for her. She really didn't want to see him right now.

Instead of spending the few minutes before homeroom hanging by Tony and Rhodey's lockers, as per normal, she walked right past them with only a "Morning Rhodey" as she passed. Tony, she noticed, looked up at her pleadingly and began to make a move towards her, only to be held back by Rhodey and a glare from her. And to make her mood worsen, she noticed Whitney was hanging around the locker.

"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." she heard the blonde say. She had to quell the urge to turn around and throttle the heiress.

Luckily, Gene showed up just as she was about to give up and let the urge free. "Morning Potts." he said, coming up beside her. She muttered something that Gene would hopefully take for a greeting, not feeling like giving a full response. "Still in a bad mood, I see."

"You're very observant."

"I'll admit, it's one of my better traits." He boasted.

Pepper punched him lightly on the arm. "You're so modest."

The two of them walked to class together, unaware of the grey eyes that followed them.

-----------------------

Her first test of willpower came in second period. The absence of Rhodey, who had a spare, mixed with the fact she was one of the last to arrive, left the last available seat right beside Tony. Pepper let out a sigh of aggravation and placed her stuff down beside him, trying not to look at him more than necessary.

However, she caught a glimpse of Tony looked eager, probably because of the chance to talk to her. "Pepper…" he started.

Pepper glared at him and moved her seat over. Seconds later, she moved her books over as well. She heard Tony shift his seat over as well. "Pepper, listen."

She didn't move at all, just faced forward and looked at the board. She felt his fingers on his arm and looked at him through the corner of her eye. "Pepper, please listen to me?" he asked.

The teacher entering the room stopped her from having to respond to him, and she was glad for it. She had felt her willpower breaking and her anger softening and had almost turned to hear him out. But now the opportunity was lost and her anger was still intact. She faced forward, giving the teacher her complete attention.

-----------------------

Her efforts to not speak to Tony were undone as she caught her after class. As she stood by her locker, grabbing the books she'd need for the next class, she heard someone come up behind her. She didn't even have to look up to know it was Tony.

"Pepper, I'm so sorry about yesterday. It totally slipped my mind."

Pepper didn't even look at him. "Sure it did." _and Whitney helped it slip._

"Look, d'you want me to make it up to you? How about we make up for it after school?"

Now Pepper looked at him from across the door of her locker "No. That's ok. It's obvious that time with your _girlfriend_ is more important than helping your friends." Pepper's voice rose angrily as she alluded to Whitney, but she lowered it and finished coldly, "I found someone else. Your duties are officially ended."

With that, she slammed her locker shut and walked away, not even looking back.

-----------------------

Her first class after lunch was Geography. The second she got into the classroom, she saw she had several places to sit. Pepper assessed her options.

Tony was sitting alone, since Rhodey didn't share this class either. But if she sat with him again, willingly, this time, it might give him the impression that she was starting to forgive him, which she certainly wasn't. Tony must have felt her staring, since he looked up at her hopefully. She scowled and looked away.

Her second option was Gene. He was sitting up with Happy, as normal, but she could probably convince Happy to move. It sure beat the third option-sitting alone. If she did that, Tony would probably join her. Some small part of her had to admit, it would be a nice gestu---_No! Bad Pepper! Stay mad!_

She marched over to Gene's desk. He and Happy looked up as she approached. "Happy, do you mind if I sit here today?" she asked, putting on her best smile.

Her eyes flicked over to Tony briefly. He was watching this, Pepper realized with an almost gleeful feeling.

Happy looked momentarily confused, and Pepper worried he was going to ask question she wouldn't be able to answer without awkwardness and embarrassment. But then a grin spread across his face and he looked back and forth between her and Gene. He elbowed Gene in the test, chuckling. "Sure, I'll move." he said between laughs, still elbowing Gene.

Oh. Well. She hadn't expected this reaction. At least he hadn't asked anything, though.

"If you're going to move," Gene ground out. "Please do so."

Happy, still laughing, grabbed his stuff and left. Pepper slipped into his empty seat.

"You don't want to sit beside Tony, I take it?" Gene asked by way of greeting.

"Nope. That might give him the impression that I'm forgiving him." She replied. "What, you don't want me here?"

"No, I do. Better you than Happy. Trying to converse with him is like trying to converse with a wall."

"Really? I always thought that it was easier to speak with the wall." Pepper joked.

Gene gave a little chuckle at her remark.

"Is it just me, or does Happy now think we're dating?" she asked, pointing to Happy. He had taken the seat beside Tony and was watching her and Gene with an almost childlike interest.

Gene rolled his eyes. "Who knows what goes on in his brain?"

Pepper took one last look at Tony and Happy. While Happy looked gleeful at her and Gene together, Tony looked downright unpleased about it. That idea made her stomach do a happy little turn. Finally, she was getting revenge.

With a giant grin on her face, she looked away from Tony to open the textbook in front of her.

-----------------------

Tony used to dislike how Pepper's constant blathering gave him a headache. But he found her angry silence to be disconcerting, scary. He disliked it even more. But there was no chance to make up with her, since she had been avoiding him all day. During Drama, when he sat beside her, she hadn't even looked at him. She had just moved all her stuff over. And during geography, she had avoided him and sat with Gene instead. And to top it all off, when he had tried to apologized, she had blown off his apology and told him she had a new tutor. Those had been the only words she'd said to him all day.

He now stood beside Rhodey's locker, watching Pepper from across the hall. Whitney was nowhere in sight for the moment- she had said something about taking an important call and left him to talk with Rhodey.

"I don't get it. Why won't she talk to us?"

"Speak for yourself. She's talking to me." Rhodey replied

"Ok, fine. Why isn't she speaking to _me_?"

Rhodey snorted and rolled his eyes (it was becoming a habit). "Possibly 'cause you ditched her on something that was important to her? I understand that that can make someone mad. "

"But I apologized! Or I tried to. And now, not only will she not speak to me, she's hanging out with Gene. Gene, Rhodey."

"Yes, I've heard that. You wouldn't stop talking about it last night."

"No, you don't get it! She walked right by me in Geography and sat beside him. I got stuck sitting beside Happy!"

"It couldn't have been that bad."

"Oh, but it was. And to top it all off, she's got a new tutor!"

"Yeah, she told me."

"But why-"

Rhodey interrupted. "Before you say anything else-she probably got a tutor who would be trustworthy and wouldn't ditch her before a test. And yes, I agree with her choice, no offence."

Tony grumbled something, and continued to silently watch Pepper. He noted with some distaste that Gene was now coming up to speak to her."Who do you think it is?" he finally asked, taking a sip of water.

Rhodey sighed. "For a genius, you can be incredibly dim. Who do you think it is?"

Tony choked on his water. "Gene? Not only is she hanging out with him, she's getting him to tutor her? Why?"

"I just stated the reasons. Use your amazing memory to recall them."

Tony grumbled something that Rhodey didn't catch, but he assumed it was something bad about Gene. "Oh, here comes your girlfriend." He commented, watching Whitney strut down the hall towards them. "I'll be going now."

He turned and walked away, leaving Tony to wait for Whitney. When she reached him, she pecked him on the cheek. "I'm back!" she declared. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's." Tony replied in a distracted voice. His eyes were still focused on Pepper, who had just walked away with Gene. Whitney gave him a strange look, but latched herself onto his arm anyways, practically dragging him out of the school.

-----------------------

It felt strange, standing by her locker alone after school. She hadn't done that for a while. But, Pepper decided, it was worth it just to snub Tony. Except for that one little not-quite-conversation they'd had that morning, she had done pretty well ignoring him.

"Hey, Potts."

That greeting could only belong to one person. Pepper turned around to see Gene coming towards her.

"Gene! I thought you would've gone home already."

Gene leaned against her locker, arms crossed. "No. My driver called to say he would be late."

"Wow, to have your problems." She muttered. "Oh, my driver is going to be late! That means I have to wait an extra few minutes in this dingy old school before being whisked away in a luxury limo!" she dramatically brought her hand to her forehead and pretended to faint.

"Sure, be sarcastic to the guy who was just about to offer you a ride home."

Pepper snapped out of her dramatic moment as her jaw nearly hit the floor. "You were going to offer me a ride home? Any reason why?"

Gene shrugged. "It looks a little cold to be walking." He said. Then a smirk crossed his face and he nodded towards the other end of the hall. Pepper turned her head to see Tony leaning against Rhodey's locker, watching the two of them. "Plus, it would be a great way to piss off Stark some more."

Pepper matched Gene's smirk. "Have I ever mentioned that I like the way you think?"

"Not that I can recall." Gene answered as the two left the building.

-----------------------

Gene's limo was waiting for them at the curb of the school. The driver had already gotten out and was holding the door open, waiting for someone to climb in. Gene ushered Pepper in before him, something Pepper found incredibly nice.

She settled into the luxurious leather seats as the car pulled away from the school. Just as she was about to make herself completely comfortable, something caught her eye. Whitney and Tony walking together, slightly ahead of the car. An idea popped into Pepper's brain as she glared at the blonde, and she began rolling down her window. Gene looked at her in confusion.

As the limo passed the couple, Pepper caught Whitney's eye and gave her a devilish smirk, mouthing "I'm in a limo" to her. The shocked anger on Whitney's face, and the surprise on Tony's face, made Pepper snicker. As the window rolled back up, the snickers turned into full-on laughs. This eventually turned into her convulsing on the seat, trying to catch her breath.

Gene looked at the redhead beside him, a tiny bit afraid. Why did he always make friends with the weird ones?

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**A/N: IchibanSinger321, that last part was for you! It was too good an idea to pass up. Hope you enjoyed it. **

**Hm…looks like Pepper and Gene are getting a bit closer, doesn't it. I apologize if Gene seems a little out of character, but like I said, it's hard when you don't know much about a character. I wanted to give the 2 of them a bit more interaction on this chapter, but I decided against it. I'm sorry! There will be more in upcoming chapters, I promise!**

**If y'all noticed it, there is an update for "Tangled Web". Finally, eh? Go read and review both! Make my day!**


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